Inspector Auror
by Stalker of Stories
Summary: As part of his Auror training, Harry is assigned to work with the muggle police in Tokyo. No prominent pairings, short story, Epilogue cancelled due to it not wanting to be written.
1. Case 1: Part 1

Warnings: Spoilers, character death, mentions of Harry/Ginny, Ginny bashing (in later chapters), crossover, spoilers for all 7 Harry Potter books (no epilogue) and... hm... I dunno how much of Detective Conan. 'Til before Eisuke shows up, I suppose. **I go by the manga, not the anime** so I won't be using those wretched Americanized names *shudders* Just... no. However, if you don't know the Japanese names... go to Wikipedia, type in Detective Conan Characters, and even though they're headed by the crappy American names, they will have the Japanese somewhere in there. Do not try to correct me on these 'cause I'll just go tell you to... well, you won't like what I tell you to do, comprende? Took some liberties with canon in both series.

Disclaimer: The Harry Potter franchise belongs to JK Rowling and associates, of which I am not one. The Detective Conan franchise belongs to Aoyama Gosho, Shounen Sunday, and associates, of which I am not one.

Featuring: AurorInTraining!Harry, Conan, and others from both series

File 1: Introducing the Savior

"Hey, did you hear about the new guy in the fifth division?" Chiba asked conversationally as he dug into the bento he had purchased from the cafeteria. He was a chubby man, bordering on portly, though he had thinned out some over the past few months.

Takagi Wataru, a member of the aforementioned fifth division along with Chiba, furrowed his brow. "There's someone new in Homicide?" He had arrived to the station later than usual due to being involved in an all-night stake out the night before and was currently running solely due to the wonderful deity known as caffeine. However, no one had mentioned a new guy in their department, and with his mind addled by lack of sleep, he hadn't noticed anyone new. Of course, he'd also been filling out paperwork all morning rather than talking to anyone, but it was still news to him.

"That's right, you weren't here when Megure introduced him!" Takagi's girlfriend and co-worker, Satou Miwako, sounded quite cheery as she slid into the seat across from him. "He seems like a really nice guy, though he's pretty young to be in our line of work yet."

"Young? So... what? He's 21, 22, somewhere around there?" Takagi was only 25 (1), and he was considered to be in the younger end of the spectrum at the station; most homicide detectives were in their thirties or forties, and there were only a few younger than Takagi. The youngest officer in the station had just turned 23, but he was a member of the third division, the department dealing with theft and robbery, not anything as potentially emotionally scarring as homicide.

"Nope, even younger than that," Satou's tone was as if she didn't believe it despite being the one relaying the news. "He's turning 20 in a few months."

It was lucky that, at that exact moment in time, Takagi had _not_ been drinking his coffee, else he would have accidentally spit it all over his girlfriend, and while _she_ might have laughed it off... well, Satou was the apple of almost all the male officers' eyes, so Takagi wouldn't get off easy from certain other coworkers. As it was, he choked on his sandwich and Chiba had to clap him on the back a few times to keep him from choking to death. And "death by sandwich" hardly had the same noble ring to it that most of his near-death-experiences thus far would have had.

"He's _19_?! Is that even legal?!" He gasped once his throat was clear. The new guy wasn't even old enough to drink! (2)

"A lot of others were wondering about that too," Chiba chipped in, "but apparently he's a trainee for the British Auror Division. The entire Ninth is backing it too, saying it's standard procedure for a second year trainee. I even heard rumors that some of the Ninth were asking him for his autograph, so he might be famous, and Megure seemed pretty pleased that we got him."

Takagi was still stuck on the first sentence. "An Auror trainee?" His eyebrows rose pretty high as he thought about it. "Wow... I've never even met anyone in the auror division before... I mean, I've _seen_ them, but... wow."

The Auror Division, the ninth division in all large Japanese Police Departments (the number varied from country to country) was practically a legend throughout all of Interpol. They selected their own officers seemingly out of nowhere – some aurors were even rumored to have not existed in their country's birth registry until they joined – and selected their own cases out of all of them that were submitted each day, seemingly at random. All inspectors were given checklists to consider during a case, and if five or more points were hit, the case was submitted to the Aurors to see if they were interested. They solved the unsolvable and took on cases from murder to petty thievery, fraud to assault.

Of course, many high profile cases had been submitted, but most of them were turned down, including the Kaitou Kid case from the second division. The Head Auror claimed that, while it'd be easy as anything for them to catch Kid, it wasn't a case that fell into their jurisdiction; they had dealt with another Kaitou not long before that, and it was such instances as these that confused most people on what Aurors actually did.

No one outside the aurors knew exactly how they worked, not even the chief of police. This spurred a variety of rumors that usually revolved around the aurors being more like the British MI6 or America's FBI than police officers. Whispers circulated about brutal interrogation methods and corruption, but the only basis of fact was that there were _no_ facts to go on, just the secrecy shrouding the department's actions. Rumors were just rumors.

"Apparently he'd flown through his training over the past couple of years," Chiba continued in a hushed whisper as though he was imparting the secret of eternal life. "He wasn't even finished with school when they recruited him, and aside from his year with us, he's just got one more year of training in Auror methods before he's one of them."

"Talking about Potter-kun?" Asked Yumi, a traffic cop and Satou's best friend, as she set down her tray. "Everyone else is, of course. I only saw him when I popped into the Homicide department earlier, but he's a real cutie."

"Uh-huh," Satou murmured her agreement as she took a sip of bottled tea. Takagi's spirits plummeted. He and Satou had been dating for a couple of months now, but she was still talking about other guys around him without even thinking about it, though to be so blunt... Of course, were Takagi properly awake, he would have realized that his girlfriend was only acknowledging that they were talking about Potter, the Auror trainee.

"A-anyway," Takagi coughed into his fist to get the attention of his group of friends. "I need to go finish my paperwork from this morning before Megure will let me clock out. So... I'll see you all later." He waved good-bye and, after a special smile for Satou, beat a hasty retreat for his desk, almost spilling his coffee on a guy from the arson department as he did so. He really _did_ have to get that paperwork done before he could go home, and the sooner he did it, the sooner it would be done and he could sleep.

Surprisingly, he wasn't the only person in the office rather than the cafeteria. Two desks over from his sat a young man of obvious European descent with messy black hair that stuck up in every direction without much care for gravity and silver square-framed glasses perched precariously on his nose. The man was bent over what looked like some sort of college text book given its thickness, and was waving a pen in strange motions as he read. Considering Takagi could pretty safely say he didn't recognize this guy from anywhere, it stood to reason that this was the mysterious new guy whom he had failed to meet that morning.

Having had his curiosity peaked back in the cafeteria, Takagi observed the possible Auror trainee as he started in on the paperwork that remained in his "In" tray. The "Out" tray was, thankfully, more full than the "In", showing just how much progress he'd made that morning, and keeping an eye on the other man in the room didn't detract from the quality of work either.

"It's rude to stare y'know," an amused baritone came from what was unmistakably the person Takagi had been covertly watching. The police officer was a bit chagrined at being caught, but couldn't help thinking of the rumors floating around a few months back about the strangely acute fifthsense that Aurors seem to possess. "Not that I'm unused to it, mind you, it's just that most people don't bother being discrete about it."

At the almost-joke (probably some sort of inside joke), Takashi _did_ just outright stare. "Eh... okay?" He couldn't really think of anything to say, though it wasn't for lack of trying. "So, you're the new guy, right?" If he was wrong and simply hadn't noticed one of his coworkers, Takagi was going to be mortified.

"Right in one," the now-confirmed new guy nodded and snapped his book shut before placing it in the locked drawer of his desk. Takagi didn't get to see what the title was. "I'm Potter Harry, born and raised in the UK, and an auror trainee. Pleased to meet you..."

"Takagi Wataru," the officer in question supplied.

"Nice to meet you, Takagi-senpai," Potter grinned. "I'll admit I was rather curious this morning since I saw you weren't around when Megure introduced me, but you appeared later. I didn't really have the chance to come say hi before you left for lunch though."

"You specifically remember I was late getting in?" Takagi was a bit skeptical of this, though there was no denying the accuracy of Potter's statement. Still, the fifth department was pretty big, so the odds of Potter really noticing him and remembering those exact circumstances was pretty weird, too.

Potter shrugged as if this were completely normal. "I have a near-photographic memory for faces and situations. Once introduced, I don't forget a person's name or face, and I will usually remember the circumstances surrounding and event if the event itself is mentioned or I make a random mental link to it. Comes in handy, but it didn't help with my A-levels in the least bit." It took a moment for Takagi to make the connection to the British standard examinations.

"That's a very impressive skill all on its own though; is it why you were recruited into the aurors?" It was an innocent question, but Potter stiffened slightly in his seat.

"The recruitment policies of the International Auror Corps is not to be spoken outside of select company," he recited apologetically, turning surprisingly brilliant green eyes to meet Takagi's. "But... no, it wasn't a factor. No one really noticed until about a year into training." He seemed to pause in thought as though weighing his words before the tenseness eased back into relaxed stance that belied how young Potter really was.

The secrecy wasn't unexpected, but it was somewhat disappointing. "Ah, okay," Takagi shifted a bit in his seat. It was really weird to think that this personable kid who was six years younger than him was going to be joining the most prestigious branch of the police in two years time.

"Oh, sorry, I'm keeping you from your work, huh?" Potter looked terribly abashed and ruffled his hair in an obvious nervous gesture. Takagi immediately felt bad for making the young man feel like that at all and rushed to make reparations.

"Not really, I wasn't getting much done anyway," he admitted. "I had an all night stake-out, so any stimulus more interesting than this –" he waved his hand over his "In" tray, "- is another step towards staying awake."

"Oh, I thought you looked kind of out of it," Potter suddenly turned away and started riffling through one of his desk drawers, eliciting the chinking sound of glass bottles being moved around, particularly the variety of chinking that came from bottles with liquid in them. For a moment Takagi was worried Potter was going to grab some alcohol or something, but brushed it off. No way in hell. This was proven when Potter turned around and had a slim glass phial in hand, like what was found in a chemistry lab.

The contents of the phial looked just as appetizing as something found in a chemistry lab, too.

"What is that?" Takagi eyed it warily as Potter approached with the phial gripped lightly in his left hand. It looked... red. And probably not something that a mention of being tired should make the man think of.

"Pepper-up," was the response, as if this was a normal thing to say. "It's a kind of medicine; warms you up, cures colds, the works. It stimulates your mind so you'll be more awake. The only side effect is that you'll have steam coming out your ears for a minute or so, but it's not really a big deal. Clears your sinuses too, for that matter." He was now standing next to the still-seated Takagi and had the phial out for him to take, a shiny glint of gold on his ring finger drawing attention for a moment; was Potter married? Already? "Take a swallow; it'll be useful."

Cautiously, Takagi grabbed the phial and sniffed the steaming opening. It was ice cold and had the sort of steam that rose out of a glass of ice water. "Is this stuff legal?"

Potter chuckled, "Of course. I learned how to make this stuff at school when I was thirteen, and I went to a pretty prestigious school. It was part of the curriculum to learn how to make these things. Most every auror can do it, and I don't know of any that don't take it when they catch a cold or flu."

With such a glowing endorsement, Takagi decided that it would be okay, and he filled his mouth with the cold liquid (which was slightly gritty and tasted like pepper) before swallowing. He could feel it slithering down his esophagus, and when it reached his stomach, he immediately felt the change. Heat spread from his torso and most of it went to his head, escaping out his ears in what was undeniably steam.

It shouldn't be scientifically possible, but it happened. And Takagi was definitely wide awake, something that six cups of coffee hadn't managed.

"Wow..." he blinked and shook his head a bit before tugging at his collar. He was overheating a bit, but at least he was awake. "Thanks. This is really that common?"

"Enough so that it's taught at certain schools, yeah," Potter nodded. "Anyway, I should leave you to your paperwork now. Lunch is just about over, and Satou-san said she wanted to introduce me to a friend of hers from the traffic department. See you." He gave a little salute before weaving through the desks to the door.

Takagi decided he rather liked his new coworker and set to getting his paperwork out of the way.

Or, rather, he intended to, but the phone rang.

* * *

"Potter-kun, time for your first case," Megure was quite suddenly behind Harry, and the teen turned around from where he had been chatting with Officer Satou and her friend Yumi. "Satou-kun, you too. You'll both be in Takagi-kun's car."

"Yes sir," Harry nodded and stood up from the table.

"Follow me, I know which car Takagi usually takes, so we might beat him there," Satou informed the wizard, suddenly all business, and started leading him out of the cafeteria. Harry was good at weaving in and out of crowds due to his lean frame, and so had no issues with following Satou out to where Takagi was waiting with the car.

"I got a call from Mouri Kogoro's daughter about five minutes ago," Takagi started explaining as soon as they got in the car. Harry had heard from Yumi that Satou and Takagi were dating, and immediately went for the back seat. "The victim is Matsuda Hiroko, the landlady of an apartment complex near Haido Park. Ran-san said that Mouri-san and Conan-kun had already narrowed the suspects to three people."

"Maybe Megure is right about them always being there," Satou mused aloud, then paused. "Oh, Potter-kun, you don't know any of these people we're talking about, do you?" It was true, so Harry replied as such. The name Conan made him think of the mystery novels Hermione kept trying to get him to read, Sherlock Holmes, but he doubted there was any link. "Mouri Kogoro is pretty famous in Japan as 'the Sleeping Kogoro' who solves mysteries with his eyes closed, and his daughter is Mouri Ran, who is a high school student and good friends with a famous high school detective from the area. Edogawa Conan is about 6; he lives with them and is really observant. They have a habit of being nearby for a lot of murder cases though."

"You guys let a kid run around the crime scene?" Harry raised an eyebrow. Wouldn't seeing dead bodies that young be scarring? But then, if they tended to be near crime scenes, then it was likely that seeing a few more bodies wouldn't make the kid crack or anything.

The name Sleeping Kogoro did ring a few bells now that he thought of it. Harry hadn't met the man of course, but he had heard people talking about him on the train as he explored Tokyo. He had been in Japan for a week now and took that time before he was due to start work to explore the city and gain a passing familiarity with land marks and important locations that he should be able to use to navigate on his own.

Straight after defeating Voldemort in May two years ago, Harry had been offered a position in the Auror training program, even though he hadn't taken his NEWTs. His first two months ended up being a crash coarse in everything he should have learned for NEWTs and, once he passed that stage – and had turned 18 – he joined the rest of the latest recruits. Ron had joined him in the program, and while they weren't really great at dueling to start, both of them learned quickly. Hermione hadn't approved of them going straight to auror training instead of taking up McGonagall on the offer to take their Seventh Year normally, but when she saw the results she had to agree that the practical approach was the best way for her friends.

It had been just about two years since Harry had defeated Voldemort, and life was pretty good. The remaining Death Eaters had been wrangled up mostly (except for the Malfoys, but they were a special case), all of Harry's friends were happy, the Ministry was finally straightening itself out, and Harry was engaged to marry Ginny when his auror training was completed.

For some reason, that last one didn't make him as happy as it had a week ago, but life was still good.

"You're a lot more lively than at lunch," Satou's observation cut through Harry's thoughts, and he listened in a bit. Technically, he wasn't supposed to share his potions with any muggles, but something had told him it was a good idea. That something was definitely right, since a murder case had come in only a few minutes afterwards. "Did the coffee finally kick in, or did you maybe take a nap at your desk?" She sounded more amused by the latter idea than anything.

"No, I have Potter-kun to thank for that," Takagi glanced away from the road to direct a thankful smile toward Harry. "He gave me some sort of medicine that acts like an energy drink, I think, because I'm feeling wide awake now. Made me a little warm though."

"Ah, by the way, can you not spread that around much?" Harry asked quickly. "Technically speaking I'm not supposed to distribute those. They're perfectly legal, but it's sort of an auror department secret..." He shifted uneasily in his seat, but both of his fellow officers seemed to understand and promised. "Thanks."

"No problem, Potter-kun," Satou replied easily. "Whatever it was, it's a good thing you gave it to Takagi. I don't know if you could handle my driving."

"Are you a bad driver or something?"

"No, I'm just very reckless when I want to get somewhere quickly," she turned around in her seat and smiled brightly; Harry immediately understood. She was probably an amazing driver, just of the "goes so fast that passengers piss themselves" variety. Kind of like Harry on a broom; great to look at, but no one wants to fly with him.

Soon enough, they had gotten to Haido City and parked the police car across the street from the apartment building where the call had come from. A teenaged girl with long black hair and fairly fashionable clothes was standing outside and waved as soon as she saw the police car.

"Oh good, you're here!" The girl called when they had all gotten out of the car. Megure's car pulled up behind theirs and made a strange grinding noise when it went off that Harry identified as an under-cared for clutch. "Dad and Conan are inside with the suspects, on the second floor."

"You aren't going up?" Harry lifted an eyebrow at the girl.

"No, Dad wanted me to pick up some fishing wire and a squirt gun from the conbini (3), but I figured I should wait for the police to get here..." she paused. "Um... I'm afraid I don't know who you are."

"I'm Potter Harry; it's my first day," he shrugged. "And you'd be... Mouri Ran, correct?"

"Yeah, but I'd better get going," she ran off down the street and waved to the police officers who were standing around the door. "I'll be back soon!"

They made their way up from the ground floor by the stairs (Harry almost went up an extra floor before remembering that second floor meant, to his sensibilities, the first floor (4)) since the elevator had what was definitely a puddle of barf sitting in it, and it wasn't hard to pick out which room contained the famous detective and child; the body of a middle aged woman with graying black hair was lying spread eagle on the floor, eyes staring at the ceiling and a bloody mess had been made of her throat which looked like it had been hit by some bird shot (5) at point blank range.

_So that's what a normal corpse looks like_, Harry mused.

**Author's Note: Okay... so it took FOREVER to read all of Detective Conan (703 chapters! Seven hundred and THREE!!! Well, 704 now, but it was 703 when I wrote this chapter), but I got it done and by the time I was done I had three crossover bunnies for it, two of them being Harry Potter and the other being xxxHolic. I'm firmly refusing to think about crossing it over with anything else yet. Or letting my brain craft detective-bunnies just for Conan, for that matter.**

**Um... okay, so I've never actually written mystery before. So... I'm going to do my best. This isn't going to be a long fic (I think; that's what the other HP/Conan bunny is for) and should only include 3 cases (in detail; Harry will be involved in more that will be mentioned, and one of the three will seem like a cop-out, but it has a purpose). If I'm doing a bad job of mystery, please tell me what I'm doing wrong and I'll go about fixing it. I'm really not much into mystery, but I wanted to write this, so we'll see how it goes. Please be patient!**

**It's not going to be a long story, less than ten chapters as far as I can figure. Case 1 (Files 1-3) can just be considered an introductory arc, Case 2 (File 4) is sort of more for how the aurors work in the muggle world, and Case 3 (Files 5-8) is the rest of the story. There will be no epilogue (it didn't want to be written).**

(1) I can't find anything that says his age, so I'm making a guess based on the assumption that he is around Satou's age and that Satou's father was killed 18 years ago, when she was six. If anyone can correct me on this, please do! I'd rather be proved wrong and fix it than believe myself correct and look stupid.

(2) Legal drinking age in Japan is 20, as well as legal smoking age.

(3) Conbini is short for Convenience Store (I've also seen benri (which literally means "convenient") used, but Conbini seems to be more common).

(4) When James Black of the FBI was introduced, Conan deduced he was English from two things - first from his accent when speaking English, and second from the fact that he called the floor one number lower because the first floor is considered the floor above the ground floor (assuming Aoyama was correct that this is actually how Brits go about things, I included it, but if I'm wrong please correct me!)

(5) Bird hunters use a type of shell that contains multiple bullets that go in a spread to make it more likely that they will actually hit a bird when they shoot. (Learned about this from History channel...)


	2. Case 1: Part 2

Warnings: See File 1, 'cause it just inflates the word count.

Disclaimer: The Harry Potter franchise belongs to JK Rowling and associates, of which I am not one. The Detective Conan franchise belongs to Aoyama Gosho, Shounen Sunday, and associates, of which I am not one.

Featuring: AurorInTraining!Harry, Conan, and others from both series

File 2: Distrustful Detective

Kudou Shinichi, most recently known as Edogawa Conan, was a very smart person. He knew trivial facts of every sort, got good grades (though, considering he was 16 years old pretending to be 6, that was no surprise), and for every mystery novel his father had published he had solved at least two murder cases, probably more, and plenty of other types of cases. Despite the fact that he was known to be rash on occasion, that didn't really matter in the scheme of things.

Provided one excluded "running after the suspicious guys and being force fed a drug that either kills someone or turns them into a child" from the scheme of things anyway. Still, in general Conan was very smart and rational.

This instance was no exception. Kogoro had been hired to do some sleuthing and spy on the husband of a woman who suspecting him of cheating on her, as usual. Since it was Golden Week, Ran – Kogoro's daughter and Shinichi's friend-cum-crush from childhood, now Conan's primary caregiver and "older sister" – and Conan didn't have school, and neither had anything else to do that day. What's more, the client had mentioned that her husband had been tailed in the past, but was very observant and caught each detective that had stalked him in those instances, so a superb camouflage was needed.

As it just so happened, Mouri Kogoro, famous as he was, had the perfect camouflage living with him – a teenaged daughter and a precocious primary school aged "son" (well, that was how passerby would see them anyway) – and so Conan was spending the day eating ice cream to "look cute" while Ran fussed over him. Unfortunately, Conan couldn't talk Kogoro out of the ice cream idea without looking suspicious and had a stomach ache from eating _far_ too many of the cold treats.

Despite the stomach ache caused from too many frozen dairy products, however, he was the one to notice something suspicious was going on aside from a dutiful husband drinking coffee at a cafe near Haido Park. A teenaged boy was walking by with his little sister (who was still older than Conan), not listening to what the sister said.

"But I heard it! I know I heard it! Mom won't believe me either," she pouted. Conan kept a close ear on the conversation even as Ran licked a paper napkin and wiped some chocolate ice cream off of his face. It was embarrassing, but he would overlook it because innocuous conversations such as the one he was eavesdropping upon tended to "conveniently" turn out to lead to murder cases of some sort.

"It was probably just Kuroguchi-jii watching an old war movie again," the teenaged boy huffed. "Honestly, you're too gullible, Ruri! They're just sound effects."

"But _he_ lives on our floor and I heard it from the floor _below_ us!" The girl, Yumi, pouted. "I'm telling the truth."

"I'm telling you, no one could have fired a gun inside last night without anyone else knowing! Just let it drop," the boy shook his head as if to ask "why me?" to the heavens. "Wouldn't the land lady's son or someone else on that floor have said something about it by now if it were true?"

"But –"

"No buts. Now let's get go-"

Conan looked up at the boy as seriously as he could. "Excuse me, but what building do you live in?" It was probably close by, and from the sound of things, it was a case of "kid's notice more than adults", as Conan had found was quite more common than he had ever realized before becoming a child.

"It's just the little building over there," the older brother indicated a four-story apartment complex that was just to the right of the cafe Kogoro was spying on. "But kid, you really shouldn't pay any attention to my sister," he glared at the girl in question, who huffed in indignation at the look, "She's a pathological li- Hey kid!"

Conan, however, was already running across the street toward the complex in question was Ran hot on his heels as he dodged through the heavy (but currently immobile) lunch time traffic. Kogoro wasn't too far behind when he noticed his camouflage was fleeing the bistro they had been sitting outside of, but the teen-turned-child didn't pay any attention to his dummy detective or the girl he loved; the mention of a gunshot that no one reported had caught his attention, and he was hanging on to that little clue until he was sure of its veracity.

There was a reason Ran called him a "Mystery Otaku" after all.

Unfortunately, Conan hadn't asked what floor the shot had been heard from, or which floor the brother and sister lived on, but there were only three floors that included housing – the first floor was a common area of some sort and seemed entirely taken up by empty space, some furniture, and an office – so it wouldn't be too hard to check the only two possible floors. However, he also couldn't take the elevator and just hit both the buttons for floors two and three because there were three adults getting in who would not be amused if he hit the buttons before their floor and didn't actually get off.

So, deciding to forgo the great metal box rather than get the likely-tenants mad at him, Conan made a dash from the stairs and made his way up to the second floor. By now, maybe he should have realized that coincidences were almost never coincidences in his case. As he made it to the hall of the second floor, a woman's scream cut through the air and a distinctly make voice cried out a horrified, "Mom!"

Conan rounded the corner just in time to shout words that he had had to say far more times in his short life than any one person should need to. "Don't touch that body!"

It wasn't a pretty sight, but it was far from the most gruesome murder that he had seen in his life. The corpse was that of a middle-aged woman with graying hair, her eyes wide and glassy as she seemed to stare at the ceiling. In one hand, a keyring hung from the clenched pinky, and the other was held at an awkward angle away from the body, fingers curled. Her throat was mutilated beyond recognition as a human throat, noticeable holes showing that multiple small bullets had done the job, perhaps bird shot from a hunting rifle. The door at the woman's feet was opened out into the hall, spattered with blood and blocking the view of a good portion of the hallway.

At the woman's head was the elevator door, which still contained the three people Conan had seen boarding it when he entered the building. The most frantic of them was a man with short bleached-brown hair, tan skin on par with Hattori Heiji's, and clothes and looked like he had slept in them. He had fallen to his knees, his body causing the elevator's sensor to prevent the door from closing, and it was only Conan's shout that stopped him from touching the corpse and contaminating the crime scene.

Still standing in the elevator was a woman with inky black hair braided into pigtails, slightly frayed like she hadn't had time to shower that morning, and her make-up was a bit smudged around the eyes. The dress she wore, however, was pristine, even as she stood wavering in her three-inch high-heeled sandals. Her face was a little pale as she stared at the corpse, clutching onto the door of the elevator like she might faint.

The third person was a man of staggering height, with slight anglo-saxon features that marked him as being only half-Japanese. His black hair, just a shade shy of being dark brown, was almost as long as the woman's and tied behind his head an a neat ponytail. Unlike his companions, he looked completely put together, wearing fresh clothes and the collar of his shirt wet from letting his hair air-dry. Unlike either of his compatriots, he was doubled over and had barfed on his own shoes just as Conan rounded the corner. Even as he looked up again, he looked sickly.

Conan was soon at the side of the corpse that had, if the little girl from earlier that day was correct, been shot sometime last night. The fact that no one had reported the corpse since then was suspicious, but that would have to wait.

It took only ten seconds for Conan to confirm that the body was far enough into rigor mortis to have been dead for over twelve hours. Two sets of pounding footsteps alerted him to Ran and Kogoro approaching. He stepped back to allow Kogoro temporary control of the crime scene and instead entered the room that was still open, stiffling a sneeze as a heavy mint scent assaulted him. A hunting rifle was discarded on the floor, rolled to the side but in a totally straight line rather than haphazard as one would expect a discarded murder weapon to be. The shell was right next to it, confirming his theory regarding bird shot being used. He also checked the door and found no signs of the lock being tampered with, though a thin thread of fishing line was still attached to the door.

As he observed the scene, Conan heard Kogoro being useful for once and asking questions of the three young adults who had stumbled upon the crime scene. The kneeling man was Matsuda Hitoshi, age 23, the son of the landlady, who happened to be the woman dead on the floor. The woman was Ichiin Akiko, age 21, a tenant of the building and Hitoshi's kouhai (1) at their University. The weak-stomached man was Rokku Jemezu (James Locke), age 27, Akiko's boyfriend and, until yesterday, a tenant of the apartment complex.

All three of them lived on this floor (or, in the case of James, used to), and none had been in the building since about seven the previous evening when they were collecting the last of James' things to take to his new flat a few blocks away. Afterwards, they drank beer until Hitoshi and Akiko were too drunk to head home and ended up spending the night, thus their disheveled appearances. Aside from them and the landlady, no one else had lived on this floor for a while. Likewise, only a few people lived on the upper floors, most of whom were on vacation or would be too old to use the murder weapon.

Before Ran was even on the line with the police department, the high school detective knew two things. The first was from the questions Kogoro was asking the three tenants – that only one of them could have committed the murder. The second was the trick behind the murder. He told Ran that Kogoro had already narrowed down the suspects while she was on the phone, and did his best to act the precocious kid to put the suspects at ease.

He needed to figure out which of them was the culprit, and soon.

He mulled them over in his head, but only one really seemed to have a motive, and that was weak at best. Sure, James had been told to move out by the land lady for listening to his music too loud, but he had moved nearby and had no trouble finding a place with thicker walls. He made decent money in his job ("I work for a manga publishing company, doing their correspondence with American publishers and – damn it, another mosquito bite! Eh, you didn't hear me say that, okay kid?"), and seemed to bear no ill will to the woman.

A loud meow and scratching on a closet door shook Conan from his thoughts, and he opened the closet with his hand protected by his handkerchief to prevent contamination of the crime scene. A fluffy white cat stepped lightly out of the closet as if it hadn't just yowled and didn't particularly care that Conan had freed it, and wandered toward the kitchen, winding through Akiko's ankles a few times before stopping in front of an empty food dish with a happy kitty-face on it and meowing loudly.

"Oh, M-Mom's cat," Hitoshi sniffled, wiping his nose on the back of his hand as he tried to stem his tears. "I wonder how he got in there? I guess h-he didn't get fed since y-yesterday m-mor-morning either." He stifled a hiccup and went about getting food for the cat.

When the cat was happily tucking into its food, Hitoshi opened another cabinet, full of what looked to be bottles of things to use in cooking – sesame seed oil, mirin (2), and the like – and grabbed a bottle. The label said vinegar, and the man tipped it over to get some in his hand before smearing it on a few pink spots.

"Vinegar's good for getting rid of mosquito bites," Hitoshi whispered in confidence. "Remember that, kid. It's a lesson my M-mom..." he trailed off, tears starting anew. He swiped at his eyes and then let out a strangled noise as the vinegar from his hand got smeared in his eye before sticking his head under the faucet.

It had been a while since someone had honestly mourned the death of someone in the child's presence, and it was a bit humbling. Would he be like that if someone close to him was killed? Maybe, or he could absorb himself entirely in his detective work – one never knew. But it was an uncommon sight in his line of work (not that he got paid or anything), and refreshing in a morbid way.

"Ran-nee-san, can you go get some fishing line and a squirt gun from the conbini?" Conan asked in his best "I'm a cute little kid and not the boy you're in love with, don't you believe me?" voice. If Ran ever found out she had wiped _his_ face with a licked napkin and not just some kid's, he doubted he would live it down, so hopefully he wouldn't tell her for a while, even if that meant he'd be a kid for that much longer. "Kogoro-ji-chan said he needs it to show the police how to do the murder trick when they get here."

Ran turned around and blinked at him, but didn't seem any the wiser. The ex-teen put it down to him being a good actor, having taken after his mother in that department, rather than her not being terribly observant. With how many times she had almost figured him out, the latter really couldn't be the case at all, even if a virtual stranger like Heiji got it right.

Not everyone could be a brilliant detective after all.

Ten minutes later, Conan still had no lead on who the murderer was. Anyone could have pulled off the trick, and the rifle was an old one of James' that he claimed to have lost on a hunting expedition a few months prior. Akiko and Hitoshi backed him up on this, having been on the trip with him, which was backed up by the fact that all of their fingerprints were on the rifle.

The loud tromp of many pairs of feet heralded the arrival of the police, and it wasn't long before Megure was ordering someone to make the chalk outline and get the body out of the hallway. Conan ignored them for the most part, since the body wasn't going to reveal much more about the culprit anyway.

No, he needed to find out who the culprit was and carry out justice.

"Gah!" Suddenly Conan found himself struggling in the air, lifted up in the air by the back of his t-shirt. Trust Kogoro to decide to make him leave as soon as the police arrive. "Ji-chan! Put me doooown!" He whined, continuing to struggle.

"Don't you think you should go home or something?" Kogoro groused. "You'll only get in the way of the investigation." Of course, the detective always sang a different tune when it came to Kaitou Kid, but then Kogoro didn't know that Conan did any sleuthing other than when it came to the mischievous thief, even if he always was pointing out pertinent details to the case.

"Mouri-san, that is rather a mean thing to do to a child," a young voice said calmly in a smooth baritone. Conan stopped squirming to look up and saw a teenager standing before him.

"Another high school detective?" Kogoro sighed, apparently resigned to the fact that those like Kudou Shinichi and Hattori Heiji were drawn to him.

"No, I'm not some Private Eye or anything," the teenager waved him off in a good-humored nature. "Though I suppose I can see where you get the impression that I would be a 'high school detective' as you say. Nope, I'm just the newest addition to the fifth division. But really, if what Takagi-senpai and Satou-senpai have told is true, one more crime scene won't mentally or emotionally scar the kid any worse than he already is."

The ridiculously young officer had a sad look as he looked at Conan, obviously not liking the idea of having a kid at the scene of a murder, but he seemed to have accepted it. Conan thanked his lucky stars that Takagi and Satou had mentioned him before, or else there might be another advocate for keeping him out of crime scenes.

"But you're..." Kogoro trailed off, but dropped Conan to the ground. The teen-turned-child stumbled a bit when he landed, but caught his balance on the knee of the young officer who smiled at him in a less condescending way than what Satou and Takagi's manner around the Detective Boys could be considered. "Keibu-dono (3), is this kid for real? He looks like he's the same age as my daughter!"

"I wouldn't let him in the crime scene if he weren't the real deal," Megure replied. "That's Potter Harry, an _Auror trainee_. It's his first day." The 'be nice' went unspoken, but Conan picked up on it.

Still, the word Auror brought both Conan and Kogoro to a stop. Conan released the pant leg that he had caught his balance on as if burned and darted his head up to stare in surprise. This guy didn't look like he was any older than seventeen, and he was going to be one of the most elite branches of the police in the world?

Kudou Shinichi had worked with the Aurors once. Or, rather, he tried to. Not long after starting high school, Shinichi had stumbled across a crime scene that, like most he ended up at, was slathered in blood. It started out looking like a simple scene, a suicide in which a woman slit her wrists and stuck them in the bath tub. The door was locked from the inside, both the key that was in her pocket and the door knob coated in her blood and fingerprints. The police weren't even called to the scene until Shinichi noticed the discrepancy – the deceased woman's suicide note was signed with the surname of her ex-husband rather than her maiden name.

At the time, this had been passed off as the woman regretting that she had cheated on the husband and signing with the old name despite having been unmarried for five years. But Shinichi figured out that this wasn't the case. The letter was a forgery, and the person who wrote it either didn't know she was no longer married or didn't know how to write the maiden name. The police were called in and, not ten minutes after arriving, Inspector Megure surprised Shinichi by dialing 110 on his mobile and requesting an "Auror review."

Shinichi had never met an auror before then, and was eagerly awaiting the arrival of a group of Aurors. Although he wasn't interested in being in the police, he was definitely interested in the aurors; he was a kid with the idea that, if he impressed the Aurors, then maybe he could work on-call for them or something. That dream was crushed when a single man who was rather portly, slightly taller than average, with average features and a scraggly beard entered the building.

He walked over the body, muttered something Shinichi couldn't hear, and then did the same at the doorknob and the letter. The auror hadn't even been around for a minute before he walked over to the victim's older sister, the one whose husband, it turned out, the victim had been cheating with, and declared her the murderer.

Nothing was ever said about the case after that. Shinichi wanted to know what the reasoning behind it was, to know the motive and the method and how the Auror had determined so quickly who was the blame, but he wasn't allowed to go to the Auror department to ask, nor would anyone explain how that short investigation could count. How could it stand in a court of law? Why hadn't he heard anything about the trial or the prosecution? Why did no jail have a record of that woman's entry?

So one could say that Kudou Shinichi, and by extension his alter ego Edogawa Conan, did not have the greatest faith or trust in aurors. Everything they did was so mysterious; it reminded him of the Black Organization in a way rather than the CIA or FBI that they were usually compared to. An international police organization with suspicious methods and nothing to show that they were actually working for the betterment of their respective nations but a high arrest rate... ever since that case, the young detective had been suspecting that Aurors didn't "arrest" so much as "kill". It was well known that more of their targets resisted arrest and were gunned down than any other department, but...

"I'm back!" Conan snapped out of it as Ran came down the hall, carrying a bag in her hand. "I figured that a squirt gun most like the rifle used would be good, but most of them are pump-type, so I got a little water pistol too, if that works." She was talking to her father, but Conan intercepted her before Kogoro realized it.

"Thanks Ran-nee-san!" Conan took the bag from her. "Kogoro-ji-chan said he'll get someone to set up the trick for him later, since it's a really easy one."

"Dad said that?" Ran blinked a moment then giggled. "Alright. Well, you _are_ his little helper. Just stay out of trouble, okay? Oh, and I picked up a Kamen Yaiba snack for you. Those are still popular, right?" Conan resisted the urge to sigh, but only just.

She was obviously still completely convinced he was a kid. Kamen Yaiba candies didn't really taste all that good, but he supposed he could give the card or toy or whatever was in it to Genta or Mitsuhiko later.

Or just give them the entire thing. He was still a bit ill-feeling from all the ice cream Kogoro had shoved down his throat.

"You guys just spent the night at your new apartment, right? Are there a lot of mosquitoes where you live?" The now-recognizable baritone of Auror trainee Potter floated from further into the flat. Conan glanced to the side at the man, not trusting, but not sure what to think. He was _young_, and yet he was an Auror, or at least he was going to be one. Was he still innocent enough to not use the potentially shady Auror practices, or was it a prerequisite to be willing to kill?

"Yeah, there's a koi pond right out front, and I'm on the ground floor," James chuckled slightly, though he didn't seem any less green than he had earlier in the day. "It made moving in easy yesterday, but mosquitoes really like me. I got all these bites last night." He lifted up the sleeves of his shirt and indicated the pink spots that littered his arms.

"Ouch, that's no fun," Potter grimaced and reached down the pet the cat that was walking past him in a bee-line to Akiko. "I hate mosquitoes, but I usually eat food with a lot of garlic, and that works pretty well to make them leave me alone. Unfortunately, it also works on my fiancé." He chuckled then, and Conan rolled his eyes. How unprofessional; the guy was actually chatting with one of the suspects! Sure, he was young, but that meant he should be extra competent, not less than any of the rest of the police.

"Garlic, huh? I'd do that, but Akiko's allergic; once I made one of my dad's recipes from the States, and she broke out in hives just from the fumes," James shook his head in some mix between exasperation and trying to tame his stomach again, and Potter nodded along, sage-like.

Conan left the hall; he was no closer to figuring out the culprit, and Potter was distracting him.

**Author's Note: All the clues needed to solve the mystery are in this chapter. Maybe not all the facts, but all the clues. If you wanna take a stab at solving the mystery I've concocted, please do! Obviously, it has to do with the mosquitos... but what? Muahahahaha! As I said in the A/n of the first chapter, I've never written mystery before, so... yeah. I'm doing my best with this case though! So any critique of this chapter would be great!**

**So... I dunno how familiar people are with Japanese terminology, but here we go: '-Jii' is grandfather, used often to address any old man. '-Nee' is big sister, commonly used to refer to older girls (teens and young women usually). '-Ji' is uncle, commonly used to refer to adult men (older**** than oneself of course, if one is an adult).**

**(Okay... so it's not actually Monday yet... but it is in other timezones... I got impatient)**

(1) Kouhai basically means "underclassman" or, in reference to work, a younger, less experienced person, in comparison to someone else. Senpai is the opposite. (Forgot to note that last chapter)

(2) Mirin is cooking sake (y'know, like cooking sherry, only sake)

(3) As a correction from LeonaWriter, Kogoro addresses Megure as "Keibu-dono". Since I've only read the manga scanlations, I didn't know this because it's, well, translated (apparently she watches the anime with subs. I don't watch anime at all). Thanks to LeonaWriter!


	3. Case 1: Part 3

_Sorry this is late! Mini-arena took longer than I thought and when I got home my internet was cut so I had to wait 'til school today to post :(_

Warnings: See File 1, 'cause it just inflates the word count

Disclaimer: The Harry Potter franchise belongs to JK Rowling and associates, of which I am not one. The Detective Conan franchise belongs to Aoyama Gosho, Shounen Sunday, and associates, of which I am not one. I've never written mystery before, so go easy on me!

Featuring: AurorInTraining!Harry, Conan, and others from both series

File 3: Out of the Bag

As soon as Harry entered the apartment of the deceased, he was hit by a light, mint-like scent. He ignored the bustle behind him of the team making the chalk outline and removing the body, and instead was prepared to talk to the apparent suspects, a group of relatively young adults (all older than him of course) who were standing around in the kitchen. A man in a suit – since none of the police had entered yet, the famous Sleeping Kogoro, perhaps? – was in the hall with a kid, and suddenly lifted the boy by the scruff of his neck as Harry was about to request them to move aside.

"Gah!" The boy made a choked sound as he was suddenly lifted by the back of his t-shirt. There was no way that was comfortable, it could barely be considered humane, but it almost looked like the kid was used to it. "Ji-chan! Put me doooown!" The grating whine wasn't quite right, though Harry couldn't say why. It was just like what he heard kids say, the intonation was spot on... it just wasn't _right_. Like the kid was acting.

"Don't you think you should go home or something?" the man grumped. He was already turning to the direction of the door, and Harry, as if ready to toss the kid out. "You'll only get in the way of the investigation."

For a brief moment, Harry allowed himself to be conflicted. That child, undoubtedly the boy who Satou and Takagi had mentioned – Conan, wasn't it? He wasn't positive since there hadn't been a face to put to a name 'til now – really shouldn't be at a murder scene, but he also didn't seem terribly perturbed by any of it, or else he definitely would have been sent home already. The idea of a kid that young – only five or six by his size – seeing dead bodies regularly was rather horrific, but... well there were simply some things that didn't work out in the world.

And Satou _had_ mentioned that the kid was often pointing out important facts to the cases. Harry may not like, the idea, but – "Mouri-san, that is a rather mean thing to do to a child," he pointed out as calmly as he could. This was a case, his first ever case, and he wasn't going to look professional if he acted in regards to feelings instead of utilizing whatever resources were available. He was here representing the Aurors after all, and had to live up to the name.

Even if that _did_ involve being outshone by this detective.

The suited man – definitely Mouri Kogoro, as Harry could now tell – finished turning around and blinked at Harry for a moment, assessing him, but rolled his eyes and sighed after a moment. "Another high school detective?" Harry couldn't help lifting an eyebrow at this. Another? Was the man swarmed with high school detectives or something? Was it some sort of fad?

"No, I'm not some Private Eye or anything," Harry informed the detective in his most personable tone. "Though I suppose I can see where you get the impression that I would be a 'high school detective' as you say. Nope, I'm just the newest addition to the fifth division. But really, if what Takagi-senpai and Satou-senpai have told me is true, one more crime scene won't mentally or emotionally scar the kid any worse than he already is." He sent an empathetic glance in the direction of the child, but looked away quickly as he noticed the victorious expression upon the boy's face. How strange.

Kogoro's brow knitted together, and his mouth twisted slightly to the side, skewing his mustache. "But you're..." he didn't complete the sentence and instead complied to put the child down... via dropping him. The boy staggered forward a few steps and caught his balance on Harry's leg, hands digging into the material around his knee rather than just grabbing his leg as most children would do (and Harry would know, since his godson, Teddy, was as clumsy as his mother). "Keibu-dono (1), is this kid for real? He looks like he's the same age as my daughter!"

The accusatory finger that pointed toward Harry's chest was mostly ignored. He was used to people pointing at him after all, and it wasn't like Kogoro was gawking or anything. Not yet at least.

"I wouldn't let him on the crime scene if he weren't the real deal," replied the head of the investigation. He swelled up with a bit of pride as he continued, "That's Potter Harry, an _Auror Trainee_," though Harry knew that Megure was a squib and was proud to have Harry working under him for other reasons. "It's his first day."

_Three... two... one... zero._

Harry sighed. _Now_ Kogoro was gawking. The famous detective probably didn't know about Harry's history like Megure did (thankfully the man hadn't fawned over him like one of the older women in the Auror department had), but the word Auror always caught people's attention.

The fact that the kid let go of Harry's pant leg as if it had bit him clued Harry into the fact that the kid was familiar with the term too. Though fear wasn't usually one of the responses Harry had seen muggles react to the mention of his future department with, it wasn't unheard of in muggles who had seen cases that were solved "too quickly" or knew someone who "vanished" after the Aurors arrested them.

"Mouri-san, I hope I can see your 'Sleeping Kogoro' today," Harry smiled genially at the man and sidestepped the boy who seemed deep in thought. "Megure-keibu, I'm going to go talk to the suspects, if that's okay? Maybe I'll be able to get some information from them beyond what Mouri-san has already found out."

"Alright, I'll send in Takagi-kun to help," Megure exited the apartment and returned to directing the group that was working on moving the body as well as the officer who was looking for any discrepancies in the blood splatters. With one more polite nod to Mouri, Harry passed through the hallway and into the kitchen. The suspects were all standing about... well, two were standing, the other was in a pit of despair so deep that Harry doubted he could have matched it even when Sirius died.

But, then, as Harry soon found out, that man was the younger son of the deceased, and had just gotten off the phone from telling his older brother, who was on a work trip to China, about what had happened, so it was quite understandable. He was being fussed over by the woman of the trio (who was being fussed over by a white, long-hair cat), and the third man, a foreigner, was looking in the opposite direction of the door.

Apparently he had a weak stomach and, combined with the vestiges of a hangover from the night before, had thrown up everything in his stomach when he saw the body. His shoes were currently in the sink, the stench only barely noticeable under the scents of not-quite-mint and cat. That explained the puddle in the elevator at least.

"You're really with the police?" Akiko was not the first skeptic Harry had encountered today, nor would she be the last he encountered in his year in Japan. "You can't even be old enough to drink."

"Maybe not in Japan, but that's only a couple months away," Harry shrugged. Seriously, Akiko was the third person to mention that to him since that morning; why did it keep coming up? Was the inability to drink alcohol (legally – not that Harry would pretend to be ignorant of Japan's laws since he was a member of their police force just to drink... now...) really that big of a deal? "Anyway, I'm just here to observe my first crime scene. When I saw the body..." he faked a shudder. He'd seen worse. "Well, Megure-keibu told me to keep you guys company until he lets you go and they can start searching for the murderer in earnest."

"Eh? I thought we were suspects though," the half-American, James, furrowed his brow and absentmindedly scratched a mosquito bite on his chin.

"Nah, that was just Mouri-san 'jumping the shark', y'know? None of you were here when it happened, so it's impossible for any of you to have done it," Harry chuckled good-naturedly as he lied, keeping an eye on their reactions. It hadn't been hard to find the fishing line that was everywhere in the doorway, even if it had mostly fallen to the floor. Not that Harry knew what the "trick" behind the murder was, just that there was one.

Still, none of the suspects gave any real reaction to Harry's statement that could help him narrow down who it was. Were they expecting a good-cop/bad-cop routine? Did people actually _do_ that? James had eased up considerably, but that wasn't grounds for suspicion. Even an innocent person would relax upon hearing they weren't a suspect. Hitoshi let out another strangled sob even as he was trying to compose himself, and Akiko continued scratching the cat, though it suddenly darted away past Harry's feet. It was nothing that could be worked with.

But small talk would help while he worked on ideas of what he should ask about. Kogoro had probably asked all the important questions already, so he'd have to think of something else. The pink spots littering James' arms and most otherwise visible flesh made for as good a topic as any.

"You guys just spent the night at your new apartment, right? Are there a lot of mosquitoes where you live?" He asked with feigned curiosity. Mosquitoes? He was making small talk about _mosquitoes_?

"Yeah, there's a koi pond right out front, and I'm on the ground floor," James almost scratched at the bite on his chin again, but arrested the movement. "It made moving in easy yesterday, but mosquitoes really like me. I got all these bites last night." He pulled up the short sleeves of his shirt to show that even his shoulders were peppered with pink spots.

"Ouch, that can't be fun," Harry winced in sympathy. While camping for the majority of what should have been his seventh year at Hogwarts, he'd found out that he was a favorite of mosquitoes and ended up researching ways to make them stop, because the itchiness was horrible. The cat was heading back to Akiko now, and he leaned down to pet it as it streaked past. "I hate mosquitoes, but I usually eat food with a lot of garlic, and that works pretty well to make them leave me alone. Unfortunately, it also works on my fiancé." A bit of self-deprecating laughter later, and he earned a chuckle from James as well.

"Garlic, huh? I'd do that, but Akiko's allergic; once I made one of my dad's recipes from the States, and she broke out in hives just from the fumes," he shook his head, restraining some laughter and Harry nodded along. Akiko turned a bit red in the face and sent her boyfriend a somewhat dirty look as he revealed the weakness, but Harry found his curiosity peaked.

"Does Akiko-san get bitten often?" he asked curiously. "My friend Ron never gets bitten by mosquitoes." It was the truth, and something Harry and Hermione had both been jealous of during the Camping Trip of Eternity. It was probably why Ron was sent to Brazil, since the bugs would ignore him.

"Hm? No, I get bitten plenty," she indicated a few dimmed spots on her arms, obviously faded bites. "I got these when we went to check out the apartment last week. Why do you ask?"

Harry shrugged. "I dunno, I guess I'm just a little random." The sound of the cat purring as though Akiko's deft fingers scratching it's head had turned on the motor broke his thoughts, and he thought it best to confirm this theory. "Do you have a cat?"

"Potter-kun, this is a No Pet establishment," Takagi had finally arrived to help Harry question the suspects, and had given Harry the final answer he needed. "Only the landlady has a pet." The fact that Harry's idle questioning had been right on track was a bit ridiculous, but he was used to coincidences working out in his favor.

He leaned down and picked up a mouse-shaped cat toy and threw it to the creature, which only glanced at it before returning to nuzzling Akiko's leg. Harry straightened from his crouch and smiled brilliantly at the suspects and Takagi; he had all the information he needed now.

"Well, I guess I should get to work; thanks for coming to get me, Takagi-senpai!" He left the kitchen for the living room, gesturing for Takagi to follow him. The kid was in the room, looking for... something. Maybe something important, but judging by the squirt gun and Kamen Yaiba candies in the bag at his feet, he might have just dropped a toy or something. "One of them is definitely the murderer, no question about it," Harry said in a voice that wouldn't carry, dropping the goofy-new-guy persona immediately. The boy paused momentarily; he had sharp ears.

"Wait, you figured out who the murderer is? All you did was talk about mosquitoes and cats," Takagi blinked in surprise. Harry figured he was mentally chalking it up to the whole "Auror trainee" thing.

"I'm sure plenty of cases have been solved with lesser clues," Harry waved the sentiment off entirely. "You just have to know certain facts, and it makes sense. But if I can't show how the murder was committed, my deduction won't hold water, _especially_ since this is my first official case. The trainee program is more about combat and psychology than m- how tricks are pulled off." He'd almost said "muggle murder tricks", which could have ended poorly.

"Wow, you really figured it out?" Harry almost jumped out of his skin. When had the boy moved from across the room? "Kogoro-ji-chan said he knows the trick, but anyone can do it so he can't say who the murderer is!"

That... was strangely convenient. "Mouri-san said that, eh? Well, I'll explain who the culprit is when he explains the trick, I guess." The child nodded vehemently and grabbed his bag before running out of the room, probably to talk to Kogoro.

When Harry and Takagi exited the apartment with the suspects (who, after Harry's little act, probably thought they were going to be released now), a police officer – Aizawa Jun - was sitting up fishing line around the entryway while being directed by the kid, so they had to duck to get through. Kogoro was slumped against the wall and... snoring?

Apparently the name "Sleeping Kogoro" was meant more literally than Harry had anticipated.

"Wow, your first day and you already get to see a Sleeping Kogoro Deduction Show!" Satou wandered over to Harry and her boyfriend just as the kid and Aizawa exited the apartment. The kid made a beeline for Kogoro and pulled something from his pocket... a bowtie? Yes, it was definitely a bowtie.

"Actually, Satou-keiji (1)," Kogoro's voice spoke up, though his jaw wasn't moving... but the boy's was. How was no one else noticing that? "Potter-kun will be helping with my deduction show today. Would you mind using the key and opening the apartment door now?" Apparently he was addressing Aizawa with the last sentence, because he approached the door, used the key to unlock it, and then opened it... to get his chest squirted with water.

"The trick used was very simple in this case," Kogoro (who might have actually been the child) continued. "Fishing line was tied around the lock and the knob of the door. When the lock was undone, it would pull on the string through some small holes that acted as pulleys and undo the safety of the rifle. When the door is opened, the fishing line on the knob will pull on the trigger of the gun. If you examine the lines currently holding up the squirt gun I had Ran pick up at the conbini, you will notice that in a straight line out from the gun they are wet.

"When the actual trick was executed, the bullets broke the strings holding up the gun, causing it to fall. The loss of the weight caused the door to continue opening despite it not being opened all the way when the gun was fired. It's a very low grade trick that anyone could pull off, provided they can enter the apartment. Testimony from other tenants shows that the Matsuda-san was closest to those on her own floor, and the only spare keys were given to her sons, one of whom is here and the other is currently in China."

"Are... are you trying to say I k-killed my own mother?" Hitoshi was still completely red around the eyes and horror-struck at the idea of being accused.

"Not at all, Hitoshi-san," Kogoro's voice continued on. "I said anyone could have done the trick, and it's true. I haven't got a clue who did it."

"Dad! If you don't know, then why -?" Ran was cut off though.

"I said Potter-kun would help out with the show today, didn't I?" Aside from the steady rise and fall of his chest and a few involuntary-looking twitches in his legs, Kogoro still hadn't moved an inch, and the kid's jaw was still moving whenever the detective spoke. There was no way it was just Auror training that made Harry notice these things.

"Thanks, Mouri-san," Harry smiled brightly at the assembled crowd of officers and affiliated civilians. "Well, I'll just get right to the point then, shall I? The murderer is Akiko-san."

The woman in question choked on her own spit and James immediately came to her defense.

"Hey! Didn't you say that you thought we were innocent?" The half-American snapped, stepping between his girlfriend and Harry. "What the hell is wrong with you, just turning around like that, huh?"

"There's no way Akiko-chan would have done that to my mom," Hitoshi protested. "They always got along really well, ever since she moved in!"

"I'm not saying I know the motive or anything, but that doesn't change who the culprit is," Harry steamrolled over the protests. "The evidence is all over her, y'know. Or, rather, it's all over you guys, and Akiko's lack is what pinpoints her as the murderer. She doesn't have a single mosquito bite, despite spending the night at your new flat."

"Eh?" The kid was no longer facing away from the group and was hiding the bowtie from earlier behind his back. "But Potter-nii, what do mosquito bites have to do with anything? I don't have any either, see?" He put his arms up to show off the bite-less skin.

"Who here can tell me what they smelled as soon as they set foot inside the flat?" Harry asked, sending a strange look to the kid. No, he could think about it later.

Megure was the first to answer with, "Mint," which most of the group echoed. Harry glanced at Hitoshi, and smirked when the man furrowed his brow and shook his head at the chorus of incorrect answers.

"Mint? What are you guys talking about? That was catnip," Hitoshi corrected. "Mom grows catnip plants in the house so she doesn't have to buy it when she makes toys for Yuki – that's the cat. It's her hobby."

"Exactly," Harry smiled a bit, but not the fake broad smile he had used previously to disarm the suspects. "The entire flat smells like catnip, and I bet anyone who spent more than five minutes in there still has the scent clinging to their clothes. It took almost ten minutes for Aizawa to set up the trick, and that's with a smaller, lighter gun that would require fewer strings to hold up than the rifle that was found in the corridor, which means that the scent would definitely have been clinging to the murderer all evening. And y'know what? Mosquitoes can't stand the scent of catnip."

"H-hold on, that doesn't mean I'm the murderer!" Akiko spouted. "My perfume uses thyme oil, that's why they didn't bite me!"

"But they did bite you when you went to check out the apartment originally, you told me yourself," Harry looked at the murderer straight in the eyes, noting the dilation of her eyes and the slightly accelerated breathing rate. There was no mistake. "And you changed your clothes; it's obvious you didn't sleep in that dress like Hitoshi-san slept in his clothes, right?"

"It's my boyfriend's flat! Is it weird that I would have some clothes there?" But Akiko already looked defeated.

"You left your overnight bag outside of the crime scene," Harry continued as though he'd never been interrupted. "How much do you want to bet that the clothes in there still smell like catnip?"

The wizard held no sympathy for the woman as she slumped to the ground, accepting defeat without any further protest. She explained her motive for the murder; how, over tea, the landlady had continually tried to get her to dump James since "a six year age gap was so scandalous" and date her son instead. Akiko was always trying to be polite about the matter, saying that love didn't care about age and she was really in love with James, but back in March it had simply gone too far, and while on a hunting/camping trip with Hitoshi and James, she stole her boyfriend's rifle.

Then, a few weeks ago, James was informed of his impending eviction "for playing his music too loud" which was really a ploy to make Akiko and James break up. Before then, Akiko had just been contemplating it, but when it was revealed that the landlady wouldn't let Akiko break her lease contract to move in with James, nor would James be allowed in the building after moving out, Akiko snapped.

Such a motive was a novelty to Harry, who was only experienced with murder for the sake of murder or in self defense. The idea of humanity being so petty as to kill over something like that was so... well, he couldn't really say it was unexpected, but it was different.

Harry returned to the police offices that day in a pensive mood, not really paying any attention as his fellow officers congratulated him on his deduction. He had a lot to think about after today.

On top of that list was the little boy, Edogawa Conan as he was later introduced, who was using the Sleeping Kogoro as his puppet.

**Author's Note: The title refers to the phrase "The Cat's Out of the Bag". Aren't I witty? ... Seriously, give me so leeway, I'm not used to chapter titles and mystery and whatnot.**

**The bit about catnip IS true. I swear to you it is. My mom makes soap, and once she made a lotion with catnip essential oil in it and the mosquitoes didn't touch us at all. I dunno what does it, but catnip really is a mosquito repellent. So is garlic (it changes the scent of your sweat after you've eaten it, so mosquitoes won't bite you). Thyme oil too, but I don't know why; same concept as**** catnip, I'm sure.**

**:D The next time you lot hear from me, I'll be a legal adult! I'm seriously freaking out about that... really, I mean it O_O**

(1) Keiji is the term generally used to refer to Satou, Takagi, and regular police officers. As a correction from LeonaWriter, Kogoro addresses Megure as "Keibu-dono". (Since I've only read the manga scanlations, I didn't know this because it's, well, translated (apparently she watches the anime with subs. I don't watch the anime at all). Thanks to LeonaWriter!)


	4. Case 2

Warnings: See File 1, 'cause it just inflates the word count. Capitalizing on the "messing with canon" warning in this chapter though.

Disclaimer: The Harry Potter franchise belongs to JK Rowling and associates, of which I am not one. The Detective Conan franchise belongs to Aoyama Gosho, Shounen Sunday, and associates, of which I am not one. I've never written mystery before, so go easy on me!

Featuring: AurorInTraining!Harry, Conan, and others from both series

File 4: Sleight of Hand

Life was about as normal as ever when Golden Week ended. School resumed, cases popped up seemingly at random, and Conan found himself bored by the curriculum that first graders were given. He was supposed to be sitting in Teitan Koukou right now with Ran, reading a mystery novel under his desk while the teacher lectured about some complex Algebra problem, or playing a decent game of soccer with his classmates.

No, he just had to go off half-cocked and get turned into a kid. Instead of doing something at least a little less boring, Conan was stuck tracing basic kanji with a pen that he had learned before he ever even started at school. It had been boring when he was six, and it was boring now that he was sixteen.

While the rest of his class was either diligently or lazily tracing over the kanji sheets, Conan had already finished his and had his head resting on his hand as he stared out the window. It was a nice day outside, and he was wasting it sitting here.

Sudden movement caught his eye, and Conan caught sight of two quickly running figures on the sidewalk, though he could make out what they looked like. It was rather suspicious to see two such figures, adults or older teens by their statures in comparison to cars parked on the roadside, running full out down the road in the middle of the day. The front one was shorter and fat, but managed to lope in an uncoordinated way. The one behind was taller, thin and sprinting, but kept having to weave about in his pursuit of the former.

And they were heading in a beeline for the school, which rang warning bells in the ex-teen's head.

"Kobayashi-sensei, can I go use the toilet?" he asked, raising his hand.

"It's 'may I', Conan-kun," the teacher corrected automatically with a smile. "And yes, you may."

The false child stood up from his desk and fled the room, making his way out of the school to see what exactly what was going on. He was not yet out the doors when a loud voice suddenly came through the halls as if from a PA system, but it was too clear to be the school's PA, and it was coming from ahead rather than above.

"Attention all students and faculty, please remain in your classrooms at this time," the voice was a smooth baritone, and it took Conan a moment to remember that this voice was that of the auror trainee he had met over a month ago.

He hadn't seen Potter in any cases since then, though he had heard mention from Megure a few times that the trainee was living up to his department's reputation (well, Megure had said "Potter's living up to his reputation", but Conan assumed it had to do with the ninth division). Apparently Potter's movements weren't limited to the Homicide section, as he'd been in the paper, blushing and looking very shy, for rescuing a kidnapped girl, and reluctantly gave an interview just a few days ago when he was involved in catching a high profile thief. Not as high profile as Kid of course, but high profile enough.

"I repeat, all students and faculty remain in your classrooms at this time. This is not a drill. A criminal has entered the building; he is not armed but he is dangerous. The school is under lock down. I repeat..."

Conan tuned out the booming voice that was _somehow_ echoing through the corridors. There would be no need of Potter to give the announcement personally like that if he had already alerted the office, which also meant he couldn't be using the PA system. He wouldn't have time to bother really, since he was busy tracking the criminal.

The detective pulled a small mirror from his pocket that Professor Agasa had given him (apparently, in addition to reflecting, it worked as a video recorder, though Conan didn't see the point in using a compact mirror for such a thing (1)) and used it to look around the corner to make sure the next hallway was clear. He didn't want to run into this criminal unaware; not to say he didn't want to run into the criminal at all, but being caught and made into a hostage would not be a good way to go about being a hero.

The process of using the mirror to look around corners was repeated as necessary, and Conan was careful to duck under windows as he passed by rooms in use. The Detective Boys must have been freaking out by that point (except Ai, who was probably filling their heads with how the criminal had already found him, but that was Ai), and Kobayashi-sensei would be calling other classrooms to see if he had taken refuge elsewhere.

Such things were unimportant in the grand scheme though.

Footsteps, barely audible but nearby from an indistinct direction caught Conan's attention, and he pressed himself flat against the wall, though it wasn't much of a hiding place.

"Alright bastard, I've got – oh, Conan-kun," Potter's voice only caught the detective by a slight surprise, as it came from the direction opposite where he'd thought the footsteps were coming from. The Auror-in-training leveled the not-child with an unimpressed look as he turned around, and Conan felt the strange urge to shuffle his feet as though he really _were_ a child. "Why aren't you in class? And don't say you were going to the bathroom, because I've used that trick too many times to be fooled by it."

_Should a police officer really be admitting to that?_ Conan wondered silently. Seriously, Potter was supposed to be – both as a member of the regular police force and as an Auror trainee – a role model for kids of Conan's supposed age, so he should be saying he was a hall monitor or something and a great student.

Therefore, admitting to ditching class with such a lame excuse was really not something he should tell a kid he had done with any frequency.

"It's what I told Sensei," Conan decided to answer truthfully. He didn't trust the Auror trainee, no matter how useful he had been during the case Haido, for the simple fact that he would one day be an auror. Sure, he had used simple logic and relatively obscure facts to solve the case, much like Conan, but that didn't mean that would always be his method.

Potter actually chuckled a bit. "Alright then. Well, we're pretty far from any classrooms in use now, so the best safety you'll have is with me. Keep in my shadow and don't do anything to draw attention to yourself," the Englishman stated evenly and reached out to ruffle Conan's hair with a strangely focused look. His wrist tapped Conan's head in the process – though it felt like he had been poked with a stick – and the detective shuddered. That couldn't be right, could it? It was like an egg had been cracked over his head!

Potter, however, seemed to expect that reaction and nodded to himself as he gave Conan a once over. As he did so, he fiddled with the watch that was situated on his right wrist – which was weird, but some people did wear watches that way – tightening it or something. Only, that wasn't normal behavior for most people, and so Conan filed it away to think about later.

"Just keep in my shadow, and you should be just fine," repeated the trainee with a small smile, private and real unlike the clumsy, wide grin that Conan recalled him giving to the suspects last time. He turned about and continued down the hall, and, though Conan thought it was a dumb idea, made sure to walk at such a pace that Conan was literally walking in his shadow. It wouldn't help any; it wasn't that easy to hide a person, no matter how small.

Of course, Potter probably also thought the young detective was defenseless and that being in the shadow of a police officer just meant keeping Conan behind him, so the supposed child would have a human shield when they came across the mysterious "unarmed and dangerous" criminal who was currently taking refuge in the school.

Assuming he hadn't already managed to escape the school, though with windows in every direction, someone would have used the PA to inform the Auror-to-be of this already if this were the case.

"Are there other officers here?" Conan whispered, quite aware of how the halls near the cafeteria echoed with only the two of them there. There had to be other cops; a newbie officer who wasn't even of age yet wouldn't be in pursuit of a criminal alone, Auror trainee or no. Even if it was just one other officer, Conan would feel the case was in more reliable hands.

Apparently, Potter's sole purpose in life was to prove Conan's wrong in some way. When the young detective thought that no Auror could use normal detective-style methods and logic to solve a case, Potter did. When the most likely murderer was the son of the victim who would inherit half of his mother's assets, it was the female neighbor who was just obscenely loyal to her boyfriend.

So, naturally, Potter replied with, "Nope, it's just me," as if this were not the least bit strange. "But all the exits have been sealed off, and I've made sure he's not in any of the currently inhabited parts of the school; I just need to smoke him out now." Suddenly, he lifted his right wrist to look at the face of his watch, then around the area before informing Conan that they would turn at the next right, which led to the PE lockers.

"I wish you'd stayed in class though, Conan-kun," Potter continued as if the interruption hadn't happened. "I suppose you saw me chasing down the culprit?" He turned his head to look over his shoulder with a very knowing look, as if it was the sort of thing that had had done many times as a student, or something similar. "No matter, I suppose. I hope you enjoy your first Auror case." He cast a wink at Conan before turning his focus back to the matter at hand, not seeing Conan blanch.

The teen-turned-child didn't stop in his tracks at this particular revelation of the true nature of Potter's case, but instead put his body on automatic. An Auror case? Potter, a trainee who was learning regular police methods, was already working solo on a fully-fledged Auror case? It seemed liked just another instance of chase-down-the-criminal to Conan, but to find out that he had become involved in another Auror case so soon after meeting the trainee...

Well, to say his mind was abuzz would be a vast understatement. As a detective, Conan didn't trust what he had seen of Auror methods. He still didn't know what precisely fell under Auror jurisdiction except that "impossible" and "strange" seemed to be good indicators.

Even knowing this, none of the supposedly "impossible" cases that Conan had stumbled upon had required Auror intervention.

There was something more to their workings that Conan would need to puzzle out.

Embroiled in his thoughts as he was, it was lucky that Conan retained at least some amount of spatial awareness, and so came to a stop in tandem with Potter as the slap of shoes on the floor, quieted by distance, drifted down the hall. A moment later, Conan was impressed with Potter's ability to temper his speed to the point where Conan was still running in his shadow but not tripping over the Auror trainee. Compared to the pace Conan had seen through the window, this was _nothing_, but it was the perfect pace for running with a fast child like Conan.

Potter was just full of surprise, as expected of an Auror.

They rounded a corner not one minute after they started running, and Conan was surprised at the man who stood at the end of the hall despite having seen him outside. He was panting and wheezing, a stranger to exercise, and seemed nearly as wide as he was tall. He was short, shorter than Megure, with similar features, but he held himself the way a taller, thinner man would. Moreover, he moved with a jerkiness that implied he wasn't used to his own proportions, sort of like Conan had when first getting accustomed to his smaller body. (2)

It was among the stranger things that Conan had seen in his lifetime, because the man wasn't just _clumsy_, he was completely uncoordinated, from the distance of his steps to the reach of his arms. The sloppy lope made more sense now, seeing the man before him, and yet...

"Greetings Mr Hyde," Potter said in English as the man's eyes widened in recognition. "Care to introduce me to Mr Jekyll?"

"What ah you on abou', Pottah?" Conan jolted at the cockney accent from the apparent Japanese businessman. Yet another unexpected thing, something that didn't fit in the least.

"Right, I forgot, your lot doesn't have Hermione pressing literature down your throats." Potter's stance changed and he went for the gun that was holstered at his hip. "So, are you going to start cooperating, Shunpike, or will I have to subdue you the muggle way?"

Conan furrowed his brow. He had heard the word "muggle" a few times, while in America and from a few foreigners from English speaking countries, but he could count the number of instances on both hands. It wasn't a word that one could find in any dictionary – he had tried, and enrolled his father in the effort – and no one who knew the meaning was keen on telling it to anyone who didn't know. In the end, the Kudou family had decided that it was a racial slur or something of that ilk, but there was no malice or disdain in the way Potter said it. Like it was just another part of his vocabulary.

Not the first curious glance was sent in the Auror trainee's back, but Conan said nothing on the matter. Maybe he would have more luck in asking Potter the meaning of the word.

The criminal, Shunpike, stood in a lazy stance that looked completely wrong on such a body, grinning as if he knew something important that Potter did not. "Come on, _Neville_, I've managed no' to get caught this long, unlike those 'igh profile idio's you always face off agains'," the man smirked (which was a clumsy effort at best, whether on that face or any other). "Didn'choo wondah 'ow?" Something fell out of his sleeve and into his hand. A... stick? A very nicely carved and polished stick of course, but a stick none the less.

Apparently it wasn't _just_ a stick though, because Potter's shoulders tensed and the grip on the handle of his gun tightened. "Where did you get another –" he stopped himself mid-sentence, and it didn't take a genius to realize he wasn't tempering himself for the sake of the criminal before him.

It was at that point that Conan realized that Shunpike hadn't so much as glanced at him. Strange.

But Conan was willing to use that to his advantage. If he was going to be so easily dismissed by this guy, the child was quite content to prove himself capable, even if there was a future Auror with him.

Conan raised his left wrist before him to take aim... and stared. He couldn't see his arm... no, he could, but it was difficult to see because his skin and clothes had taken on the texture of what he viewed beyond it. Like a chameleon or something.

"Wha', choo think only Aurah's can ge' mor'n one?" Shunpike snickered. He raised the stick in front of him, pointed directly at Potter's chest.

Whatever it was, it was obviously dangerous, and Conan had to shove the completely surreal thought of why he could practically see through his arm to the side. That had to do with Potter, but Conan rather intended to continue living, so he would give Potter the third degree later. He took careful aim with his watch and fired a needle that hit Shunpike right next to the carotid artery. A perfect shot, as usual.

Shunpike staggered a moment, trying to use longer limbs than he possessed to catch himself before he collapsed to the floor, face down with an audible crunch as his small, pig-like nose was broken. Conan darted forward and around Potter to make sure that the criminal was definitely out for the count, and noticed that while he was slightly easier to see under the fluorescent lights, it was still difficult. As disconcerted with this as he was, Conan was still pleased to confirm that Shunpike was unconscious.

"You're just full of surprises, aren't you?" Potter mused in a half-shocked half-amused tone. His shoes beat a steady tattoo on the floor as he approached the not-child and sleeping criminal. "I suppose worrying over you was a bit pointless then, saving my skin like that." He knelt down beside Conan, knee hovering just over the floor, as he checked Shunpike's vitals. "Hm... not a venom... some sort of chemical compound to make him sleep? Huh. Sounds a bit like a cut rate film, but who am I to deny what works? Interesting you've got though. Certainly explains a few things."

Conan furrowed his brow. Explains a few things? He didn't like the sound of that. "Professor Agasa gave it to me," Conan remarked, "'Cause Kogoro-ji-chan gets me into dangerous cases so much." Or, rather, because Kogoro was an idiot and needed Conan to solve cases for him. Potter didn't seem to believe him at all, but Conan had alternative ammo for distraction in the form of questions. "What does 'muggle' mean?"

Potter glanced at him and seemed to think for a moment before nodding to himself. "Muggle is an English word, a derogatory term for... I suppose a 'normal' person, you could say," he explained. "Well, it depends on who says it, whether it's derogatory or not, since it's so integrated into the vocabulary of certain parts of society. My mom's side of my family are all muggles, and one of my friends' family are muggles too."

It wasn't much of an explanation. A derogatory term for normal people? What made the difference between normal and... people like what Potter implied he was? But the police officer was still eyeing the watch, so Conan needed another question. It wasn't hard to think of one. "Why am I see-through?"

If the detective thought Potter would answer properly because of his age and the incident, he was sorely mistaken.

"Magic," the reply was prompt, without pause for thought or anything.

"There's no such thing, Ba~ro~ (3)," Conan informed the officer in a matter of fact tone. Did the man obviously think him so dense and childish as to believe it? Sure, the rest of the Detective Boys might have fallen for it, no matter how many times Conan had told them not to believe in stupid things, but he wasn't them. Potter was obviously looking down on him. "It's all sleight of hand and cheap tricks that can be explained with logic."

"Nonsense! Of course magic is real," Potter scoffed in mock insult. "You're thinking of simple magicians like Kaitou Kid. But if you can give me scientific reason to answer your own question, I'll _consider_ ceding the point. Until then, I believe it's 'eliminate the impossible and what remains is the truth,' correct?" He grinned broadly, as if quoting Holmes (and not very well at that) was some huge accomplishment. He glanced at his watch and suddenly rolled the body over like it weighed nothing. "Let's see you find a scientific reason behind this. And three, two, one!"

Conan gave Potter a nonplussed look, wondering what the countdown was for, only to notice something strange with Shunpike's body. It was... deflating? That was really the only way to put it. It was as if over one hundred pounds of fat were just melting off, disappearing like they had never been there, only to leave a much-too-large business suit pooled around a thin frame that quickly elongated from 160 cm to 180cm, if not more.

Skin gained a ruddy, caucasian complexion, old pock mark scars surfaced, wrinkles vanished, skin tightened over a pointed nose and weak chin, hair turned dark brown and grew a good five inches... all this happened in the space of barely half a minute.

"That's impossible," Conan whispered as he watched the completion of the transformation from a middle-aged business man to a lanky man in his mid twenties. It was impossible, scientifically and logically impossible, and yet Conan had just seen it with his own eyes. There was no trick, it just happened.

And as impossible as it was to believe, it was twice as difficult to dismiss.

"_That_, Conan-kun, is what makes an auror case," the officer stripped the criminal of – of all things – his watch and the stick, sending a small smile to Conan. "Your rules don't apply to Aurors. Our motto leans more toward, 'eliminate the probable, for the truth is impossible.'" He ruffled Conan's hair again, and the breaking-egg sensation made a comeback, as did Conan's visibility.

Kudou Shinichi hadn't liked Aurors because they didn't solve cases like he did. He hadn't understood their methods or why a case was theirs. Seeing the impossible allowed Edogawa Conan to overcome that.

But he still didn't believe in magic.

**Author's Note: Um... yeah. I'm not intending to be alternating every other chapter between Harry and Conan perspectives, that's just how it's working out at the moment. I'll use perspectives as I wish, future chapters will definitely not work out like these past few have... (next chapter is both Harry and Conan's PoV, so nyaa).**

**Huh. Already a good chunk through though. I mean, I don't know how long it will take to write Case 3 (or I didn't at the time of writing this chapter, September 1-2), but... I should have the entire story done with posting by the end of October. Unless Case 3 drags on for eternity I mean. Which it shouldn't, but there will be a lot of cover-up and then reveal and blah blah blah before things are actually figured out... I had the entire story plotted out before I even considered writing (for once), so... yeah. Well, I completely changed Case 2 (was going to have Ran help catch a crook that ran into Teitan Koukou, and have Harry take the Mouri family to dinner as thanks and then have an Auror case crop up there... but this ended up being more fun, I think), but that's fine.**

**I kinda liked tossing in Stan Shunpike :D I did my best on his accent... but I don't claim to be any sort of expert on accents, let alone British ones (I am but a little American girl (er... wait... I'm a legal adult now O_O") don't get mad at my lack of accent-writing ability! And cockney accents are weird). Um, if anyone can help me make it more accurate, that would be fantastic.**

(1) No, this isn't actually one of Agasa's inventions from the manga, I just couldn't think of a reason for Conan to carry around a compact mirror that he could use to see around corners.

(2) Actually, I'm pretty sure Conan didn't have such difficulties (can't remember; although I just finished reading what's currently up in August, I actually read the first 250 chapters in March), but he SHOULD have simply because his mind, automatic processes and non, would be accustomed to greater height/weight/dexterity than that of his child body. I said I'd warp canon, so there ya go.

(3) Baro means "stupid" (the wavy lines ~ indicate he's dragging it out longer than normal, but I'm not sure on the character limits for documents - y'know, like in reviews *hint hint* how you can't do three of the same letter in a row - so I just used wavy lines like the mangaka). According to the character bios and such on chapter 500 of the manga, this is Shinichi's favorite phrase. Conan says it too, of course. (And so does Aoyama-sensei, according to the page)

_Oh, and explanation regarding the whole watch-thing with Harry and Stan: The idea is that the watches are wrist holsters for wands. They have a hole of expanded interior in the band, which is where the wand goes, and therefore it's completely unnoticeable to muggles._


	5. Case 3: Part 1

Warnings: See File 1, 'cause it just inflates the word count. Capitalizing on the Harry/Ginny warning this chapter, as well as character death, warping of canon, and... Ginny bashing.

Disclaimer: The Harry Potter franchise belongs to JK Rowling and associates, of which I am not one. The Detective Conan franchise belongs to Aoyama Gosho, Shounen Sunday, and associates, of which I am not one. I've never written mystery before, so go easy on me!

Featuring: AurorInTraining!Harry, Conan, and others from both series

File 5: For His Sake

There was no hiding magic from Edogawa Conan, as Harry had decided upon doing further research into the child after his first case. Conan had been involved in so many cases that it made Harry's head spin! Murder, arson, suicide, high profile cases involving celebrities, this kid had seen it all.

Well, okay, the name Edogawa Conan wasn't often listed in reports. In fact, it was rarely so much as mentioned in any case that didn't involve Kaitou Kid or the Detective Boys (which was, apparently, his club at school where he and his friends did little cases involving missing pets, but they seemed to often run into murder cases, especially while camping). It was actually while looking through case records involving Mouri Kogoro – those headed with "alias Sleeping Kogoro" – in the digital archive that yielded the desired results.

Apparently, the Mouri family had taken in Conan at the same time that reports mentioning Kogoro changed from "idiot" to "Sleeping Kogoro", which fit Harry's observation of Conan's jaw moving while Kogoro spoke and the sleeping drugged needle that Conan could fire out of his watch with impressive accuracy. If Harry took that into account, as well as reports of Suzuki Sonoko using the "Sleeper Method", then the results were staggering.

Really, it was a miracle that Conan hadn't been involved in an Auror case before June. Statistically speaking, it should have happened within his first couple of months with the Mouri family, given how many cases they had in that time. As such a trouble-attracting little detective (and didn't _that_ concept ring a few too many bells in Harry's past), it was bound to happen that he should learn about real magic eventually, and so, when the time came, Harry didn't hide it... he didn't _really_ reveal it either, but instead laid the foundation for Conan to not discount the possibility on any future Auror cases he might be involved in.

Merlin knew that Aurors everywhere needed a greater dose of good old-fashioned muggle logic than the wizarding world generally afforded. Harry could still remember first year, retrieving the Philosopher's Stone, and Snape's logic puzzle that most wizards wouldn't be able to solve because they'd never had to exercise that part of their minds before; Aurors had it easy because, with one wave of their wands, they knew the culprit. But Harry was considered top of his class because of the few logic skills he learned in muggle primary school.

With someone like Conan around, an ace detective at age six who was only going to improve as time went on, maybe that could change a little bit, if only in the Japanese Auror Corps.

Since revealing that tiny bit of magic – which was really unavoidable in the first place since Conan had been _right there_ and the Polyjuice Potion wasn't going to wait on wearing off just because there was a muggle child present, and no one would risk brain damage by obliviating a child's mind (except, of course, Gilderoy Lockhart) – Harry had had only three cases with Conan, only one of them involving Kogoro. The child didn't seem to like Harry much, but the Auror trainee didn't mind.

Though, dislike might have been because Harry took to entertaining the other Detective Boys with some "magic" tricks and showed them how to debunk each of them. These were tricks that had been mentioned in early Kaitou Kid reports from eight years ago and further back, and Harry figured that, since they were involved with Conan, they would be able to use that knowledge against the thief at some point. Unlike Conan, these children were still innocent despite the number of murder scenes they had stumbled upon since meeting the boy, and maybe Conan hadn't liked that Harry was disillusioning them at all even as he kept saying they were "just tricks".

Those cases were illuminating, and Harry could only surmise he would, over his year in Japan, get to know more about the strange child.

"Oi, Harry! What's this thing? And George, I swear if you try and slip that in my saa-ki (1) I'll loose a dragon on you. Don't think I won't 'cause I can sure as Circe find a way to do it!" Charlie Weasley snapped, pulling his cup away from his younger brother's grasp.

For now, however, Harry was going to enjoy his twentieth birthday.

"It's just takoyaki – octopus," Harry informed the dragon tamer. "It's good, I guess." Of course, Harry and Charlie had such different taste in food that half of Harry's favorite foods were on Charlie's "don't go near without a bubblehead charm" list (which was, in fact, a corporeal list that he kept studiously away from George and Ginny) and vice versa. Harry wasn't even going to bother trying to fix Charlie's pronunciation of the alcoholic beverage though; at this point, if the translation charms weren't doing it automatically, there was really no point.

Charlie wasn't actually listening anymore anyway; he had some takoyaki in his mouth and was gesticulating rudely with his chopsticks to make George put the prank sweet – a new product from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes called a "Gulliver's Candy" – back in his bag before any muggles saw. In the end, Harry filched the entire bag of Gulliver's Candy from the twin and stuck it in his own pocket for safe keeping.

"_Honestly_," the alto chuckle, smooth as silk and rolling with amusement, issued from Ginny Weasley who was seated at Harry's side. "Are you _sure_ you want to be part of this family, Harry? I wouldn't blame you if you deemed us all insane and said 'fuck it all'." Hazel eyes sent a side glance to her fiancé, and Harry only smiled in response.

He loved the Weasleys after all, crazy or not. They were his family and had been ever since he met Ron on the train to Hogwarts. There was no way he could leave them all.

"Get out while you still can," whispered Fleur from across the table in English, sending a wink to her husband as she did so. The once-handsome man chuckled and rolled his eyes at his wife's antics, but said nothing on the matter, just chewed quietly on his chicken and stroked one of the myriad scars on his face. Bill had always been good natured like that, and Harry was glad to see that, even though they had gotten married in the middle of wartime, the couple remained just as in love as when he'd watched them walk down the aisle.

Harry grinned widely at the couple before him and said nothing again before raising an unofficial toast in their honor, all in his head. Fleur was absolutely radiant, as usual, though for the moment it was in the more homely way that all pregnant women were, and the Frenchwoman was _very_ pregnant. She was due on September the first, though she claimed women in her family – both sides – were prone to early births, so she was anticipating mid-August. Due to the upcoming due date, however, a translation charm could not be applied, so she was stuck to English and French.

Considering it was now July 31, the multitude of foreigners had arrived in-country only a day before (and had slept off jetlag until around ten am), and the trip was scheduled to last for three weeks, Victoire Weasley was likely to be born in Japan; Harry had already talked to his superiors at the station to make sure he could get out of work in such an eventuality, since he was only actually taking two vacation days during their stay.

Ginny leaned over closer to Harry and used her dominant hand to turn his face towards her for a kiss – it tasted like kobe beef, yakisoba, and sake, though Harry knew that Ginny hadn't been drinking... well, no, she had been, but only when he went to the bathroom because drinking while underage in their current location in front of her cop fiancé was stupid. He had just thought she hadn't had enough for it to flavor her mouth so obviously. But he couldn't arrest her for just a kiss.

"Y'know, if I didn't know any better, I'd think you snuck some hard cider, Love," Harry teased. Things had changed since he came to Japan, and it wasn't just that Harry had seen _normal_ corpses on a regular basis. But he could maintain the illusion for a bit longer.

"Of course not, Harry," she pouted and then smiled. She pecked him on the lips again, close-mouthed this time, and with her hand on his knee turned to chatter with her mum about some wedding dresses she had seen out at the shops that day and wouldn't it be interesting to have a Japanese-themed wedding since kimono (she pronounced it "kai-mo-nohz" through her poor translation charm that had been hastily applied by her sleep-deprived older brother that morning) were so pretty?

Harry's lip twitched and he tucked back into his own meal, some Indian cuisine that wasn't as good as in Britain, but it was still better than his own attempts in his flat. Really, hotel restaurants had such a great variety of things to eat, so the Weasleys could get a taste of Japan and Harry could get a taste of home. (2)

A few minutes later, Ginny begged off to bed, claiming an upset stomach from eating too much. Harry had noticed she ate a lot that evening, considering she was normally quite weight conscious, vacation or no vacation, and understood quite well. "Get some sleep and don't forget to keep your wand on hand in case you really do get sick, Love," Harry smiled at her. "I don't think we'll be more than an hour or two still, but don't wait up for me, okay?"

"Alright," Ginny stood from the white-covered table before steadying herself on Harry's shoulder and leaving the dinner hall. The wizard wondered idly if she'd remembered to grab her key that morning, but reasoned that even if she had forgotten, one unlocking spell wouldn't break the electronic locks (he knew this for a fact, having had to use magical means to open electronic doors many times since joining the police force).

He didn't have much time to think about her though, and quickly moved to prevent George spiking his beer.

* * *

"Oh no, you really don't have to do that!" Kogoro protested with an obvious "hell yes!" look on his face and a tone that said "I'm just being polite, you really should." Conan rolled his eyes at the adult's antics and instead watched the culprit squirm in his restraints, though he did nothing else.

"Oh, but I really must insist!" spouted the hotel manager. They had discovered immediately upon taking the job that the manager was a huge fan of Mouri Kogoro, and even had a chibi plushie of the detective in his office, which was a little creepy. "To see the Sleeping Kogoro before my own eyes! You and your family may eat whatever you like tonight, on the house, and don't hesitate to come by in the future either!"

The case itself had been very plain. The manager was a mystery otaku, without any actual detective skills, but when a member of his staff was murdered he had put a lock on all staff that had been on that floor at the time. He'd also called the Mouri Detective Agency immediately, even before the police, and since the hotel was so close to the office they had arrived before the cops. Hell, they'd been halfway through the Sleeping Kogoro Show before Shiratori arrived! Ran was out with Sonoko for the evening though, and so didn't see the carnage this time around.

The pool boy had killed a bell hop because he thought his girlfriend, a waitress down in the hotel restaurant, was cheating on him, when really she was setting up her twin sister, who worked at a manga cafe near Poirot, on a date with the deceased. Yet another tragic misunderstanding.

"Potter-keiji isn't with you today?" Conan asked when exiting an elevator with Shiratori a few minutes later. Kogoro had been dragged into the other elevator by the hotel manager who was _intent_ on getting Kogoro the best seat in the entire hotel restaurant, and so Conan was in the smaller of the two elevators with Shiratori, the pool boy, and two cops he'd never learned the names of.

"No, he's taking today off; the guy's finally of age," Shiratori chuckled. It was an expression that would never be seen on his brother, and even when trying, Conan couldn't imagine such an expression without the curly hair of Tokyo's Shiratori. "Apparently his family flew in from England to celebrate with him, too."

Conan nodded in understanding, but then stopped. A slightly-wobbly red-headed woman, still a teenager by the look of her, was in the midst of entering the newly evacuated elevator but stopped and turned around to look at Conan and Shiratori. The other two cops and the suspect continued walking, completely oblivious (or else ignoring the many strange looks they received from others in the lobby), but Conan certainly wasn't.

"Potter? You know Harry?" She looked at them with the curiosity of the slightly-buzzed, like she could make a chart of Six Degrees of Separation between the stars and a gold fish and how they were really cousins, but wasn't dumb enough to believe that there was a bear behind her. "Oh... you must be that kid he mentioned –" she mispronounced about half the words, like she was really bad at Japanese, but Conan could still puzzle out the general meaning. The strangest thing was that the mistakes were inconsistent, like she'd say "godomo" instead of "kodomo" but her grammar was perfect and the mistakes weren't because of a slur. It was... like she was using a translator and not reading everything correctly. "-Cone? No... um... well, the detective kid! Right?"

Unable to say no, Conan replied in the affirmative, and the woman giggled, mumbling something about her fiancé being caught up in such weird things. She turned back to the elevator and almost walked directly into the now closed metal door before Shiratori had the grace to stop her and press the button to open the door again.

After being thanked graciously by the strange red-haired woman, Shiratori took his leave after the other officers and Conan made his way towards the hotel restaurant to babysit Kogoro.

It wasn't hard to find the man, with the company he was keeping that evening. The table that had been assembled near the door held five red-heads, one beautiful blonde (Conan didn't know how he knew she was beautiful from only seeing her white-blonde hair, but he did), a very bushy head of medium brown, and one very recognizable man with messy black hair speaking animatedly with Kogoro. It was a quick deduction that placed the woman from the elevator as one of the group; it was a very distinctive shade of orange that crested all of their heads, after all.

And the Manager was fawning over both Kogoro and Potter now, which was very strange.

"Kogoro-san! You know _the_ Potter Harry?" He looked about ready to faint. "Truly amazing..."

It wasn't the first time Conan had heard someone call Potter "_the_ Potter Harry", with _the_ stressed as if in reverence. Like Potter was an important person, famous even. One of those people had been Megure, though it had only been once and while on the phone, while the other occasion had been during Potter's auror case at Conan's school. Potter had to wait with the criminal, and because of the lockdown Conan couldn't return to class, so when the aurors collected their quarry he had heard one of the younger aurors, sounding almost _breathy_ in his awe, murmur about _the_ Potter Harry.

"Nothing of the sort," Potter tried to wave it off, looking bashful, though the red might have been because of the half-empty bottle of beer - there were several empty ones just next to it - in front of his seat that one of the red heads – was his _ear_ missing? – seemed to be dropping a piece of purple candy into.

"Manager-san, can you show me where the ladies' room is?" the bushy-haired woman was quick to interject before any more fawning could take place. She had soft features that would be considered "cute" rather than "beautiful", thick brown hair that had frizzed out from the day's humidity, dark honey-colored eyes, and nicely tanned skin. Conan would later learn that she was Granger Hermione, one of Potter's best friends, and had been living in Brazil with her boyfriend Weasley Ron, who was in the same stage of Auror training as Potter.

"Of course, Genjaa-san!" Conan could immediately tell that the woman's name had been butchered, even not knowing her name, because she was friends with Potter and was therefore British, something her accent, slight as it was, only affirmed. The manager was fawning over her in a similar manner to how he fawned over Kogoro and Potter; not the same, just similar. They headed for the door to the restaurant just as Conan made it to the table.

"Kogoro-ji-chan!" he whined in what was, admittedly, not one of his best child imitations. "Can we please go _home_ now?" He added in a pout for good measure, even though he knew it would only have worked on Ran.

"Already? It's only..." Potter paused and looked at his watch, "Eight? Really? Huh. Well, time flies. Anyway, why don't you two join us for dinner, or what remains of it? Given the manager's reaction to you, Mouri-san, he probably offered you free dinner too – mind, I paid for ours since he kinda creeped me out – so I'm sure you guys can order whatever you want."

Kogoro ended up pulling an extra chair next to the oldest people in the group: a middle aged man with balding red hair who was very lanky but happy looking, and a woman who was obviously his wife, a rather dumpy woman with graying red hair and a mothering nature (as Conan found out when she greeted him with a hug and by straightening his clothes for him). Conan was given the conspicuously empty seat between Potter and where the brunette woman had been sitting, which he was informed had been where Potter's fiancé was sitting until she had begged off as ill and gone up to her room.

The diminutive detective wasn't sure if he should be surprised that the vaguely-buzzed teenager from the elevator was actually going to be marrying Potter in two years' time.

He met the beautiful blonde woman – who was more beautiful than he had thought upon seeing the back of her head earlier – who was Weasley Fleur, the wife of the oldest Weasley son. All of her features were carved from porcelain, and even though Conan knew he was in love with Ran, he couldn't hold back his blush. Weasley Bill, a heavily scarred man (he looked like a wild animal had tried to eat his face), had just laughed and told his wife to "turn down the allure" whatever that meant.

Even though he didn't know them, Conan was quite sincere when he gave them good wishes for their child's health.

"Oh, 'e eez so sweet!" The blonde woman simpered, tossing her hair over her shoulder so it caught the light, her brilliant white teeth shining. Unlike the rest of the group, she didn't even have a rudimentary understanding of Japanese, and everyone was translating things to English for her. Well, it was understandable since she was French and apparently spoke two languages other than her native tongue.

Actually, the fact that Potter's entire "family" spoke Japanese fluently (excepting Charlie, a man with many burns, and the woman from the elevator) was a little strange since Conan was pretty sure it wasn't a terribly popular language in England.

"So long as he doesn't steal you away," joked her husband, giving a kiss on her cheek. He turned his head to Harry suddenly and grabbed the beer that Harry had been about to finish off. "I wouldn't do that; George spiked it with something purple. Probably a Nougat or something." He made a face, all the more grotesque due to his scarring, and carefully placed the bottle next to several other unfinished ones, probably also "spiked" by George, the brother without an ear.

"Don't worry," Fleur giggled and leaned into her husband's embrace for a moment. "But I must go to ze ladies' room now." She made an apologetic smile to Granger Hermione, who had only just returned from there. "'Ermione, would you show me ze way?" The brunette was affable though, and complied.

Conan and Kogoro placed orders, received food, and had a strangely good time that _didn't_ include Kogoro flirting with Fleur, impossible as the idea might seem. In fact, after some sake, the detective actually said a few nice things about his wife and "made a note to call later", though Conan wasn't sure how. The odd, knowing look on the one-eared man's face and slightly annoyed looks both his older brothers sent him were noted in the back of Conan's mind for later rumination.

A while after Fleur and Hermione had returned, Potter asked Hermione to show him the way to the toilet; Conan followed along and returned with Potter and Hermione to the restaurant (the woman had stayed behind to make sure they could find their way back, though Conan figured she really just wanted to talk to Harry about something privately, as they ushered Conan back in the restaurant before them).

It wasn't until ten thirty, as the crowd in the restaurant thinned and Potter was settling the bill for his group's food that Kogoro decided it was time to head out. The manager caught sight of them as they were leaving and decided to harass Kogoro a bit more before they left; Potter sent a sympathetic look, but he was busy helping the only other sober (or at least not _completely_ drunk, since Potter was more than a little tipsy) people, Fleur and Hermione, usher the redheads toward the elevator, which they all seemed strangely skeptical of considering it was an elevator.

The detectives had only just escaped the hotel – and, consequently, the hotel manager – when Conan's phone started to ring. No, that was wrong; Conan's phone was kept in his other pocket. Shinichi's phone was ringing, and the screen, when it was removed from the teen-turned-child's pocket, wasn't showing Ran's number, but one he didn't recognize.

"Hello?" Conan asked cautiously. Hopefully it wasn't that Ran had borrowed someone else's phone and was expecting Shinichi's voice on the other line, but he couldn't exactly use his tie while following Kogoro back to the office.

Thankfully, it wasn't Ran. "Conan-kun, are you and Mouri-san still near the hotel?" Potter's voice came out perfectly clear, as if he was actually standing next to Conan instead of in the hotel. He sounded a bit panicked, and still in control, more like he was worried and confused. Maybe a bit frightened, but his voice had lost the slight slur it had gained by the time dinner was over. "What am I saying? Of course you are, it's only been five minutes and Mouri-san was being molested by the manager when I left –" he paused, took a breath, and calmed down. The not-child was curious, but remained silent as he waited for Potter to explain why he called (and, potentially, how he had Kudou Shinichi's cell number, since only Ran and Agasa knew it).

It wasn't a pleasant answer.

"Ginny's been murdered. It looks like a suicide at first sight, but I know it's a murder, and an Auror job at that. I've called the police, but this... they won't be able to tell it's an Auror thing, or figure it out, as it's close to a muggle murder style. I need you and Mouri-san to come here and lead the police to realize it's an Auror case."

"H-hold on a second," Conan had already told Kogoro to wait up a moment, that the call was important, which the drunk man had agreed to without question. "Why can't you do that yourself? You're an Auror trainee – who in the fifth division will know about Auror cases better than you?" The newfound trust for Aurors that Conan had was still a bit shaky, and this strange request wasn't helping much.

Conan paled when he heard Potter's next sentence.

The usually smooth baritone, already wavering slightly from stress and, no doubt, grief, was hollow. "I can't make that decision because _I'm_ one of the suspects."

**Author's Note: Before anyone rags on me for writing Harry/Ginny (or, alternatively, for Ginny bashing/killing), I have my reasons. I am not a Harry/Ginny fan, but… well, I wanted to do it this way. And she died, was only ALIVE in the fic for a little while, so no harm no foul. (To those who didn't like the bashing/killing, I'm sorry, but I don't think I could ever write a Harry/Ginny that ISN'T like that… in fact, I think this is the first time I've ever included Ginny in a fic other than just mentioned, y'know? Anyway, there was a warning about Ginny bashing in File 1 and the start of this chapter. Just deal.)**

**Regarding the translation charms - due to sleep deprivation, Charlie goofed up when he did his and Ginny's, and the spells last for 18 hours. For the most part, they weren't speaking Japanese at the table until Conan and Kogoro arrived, because the spell doesn't make them ONLY speak japanese. Fleur is pregnant and casting many spells on her would be detrimental to the child.**

**Heh... okay, I actually didn't finish this chapter 'til, like, two weeks after I posted File 1 (considering I already had a few hundred words down on this when I posted File 1, you'd think I would have finished it earlier, but I've been strangely busy now school's started up).**

**Chapter title could be sake (as in alcohol) or sake (as in the English word). I just found it amusing and couldn't think of a chapter title.**

(1) Horribly mispronouncing sake (the "a" is a sharp a, like in "at"). Heh… just felt like including that.

(2) A joke I commonly hear from my dad's best mate is that "British cuisine is anything but" (basically 'cause he thinks British food sucks... which might be because he only gets decent Mexican when he comes to visit us in the States...), and that they did the colonization thing to get some decent food. They succeeded with India on that count, since there's some seriously great Indian food in Britain.

_Note Regarding Chapter 4: Okay, so there seems to be some people who don't recall HP canon too well (I don't blame you; I've had to LECTURE my dad on this stuff), so here goes. Regarding Stan Shunpike, yes, he was a Death Eater in canon. He was arrested in Book 6 and Harry defended him to Scrimgeour (sorta) and he was part of the group that was trying to attack Harry during the Flight from Privet Drive in Book 7._


	6. Case 3: Part 2

Warnings: See File 1, 'cause it just inflates the word count. Capitalizing on the Harry/Ginny warning this chapter, as well as character death, HP spoilers (particularly Book 7, though if you haven't read it, I kind of envy you), warping of canon, and... Ginny bashing.

Disclaimer: The Harry Potter franchise belongs to JK Rowling and associates, of which I am not one. The Detective Conan franchise belongs to Aoyama Gosho, Shounen Sunday, and associates, of which I am not one. I've never written mystery before, so go easy on me!

Featuring: AurorInTraining!Harry, Conan, and others from both series

File 6: Gulliver

"It was nice to see you again, Conan-kun, Mouri-san," Harry called as he made his way as far from the hotel manager as he could get without stumbling. No offense, but the man was _creepy_. Yes, Harry had saved his niece from a magical fire last week, but it was no reason for the man to fawn over him like that. The niece, a twenty-year old muggleborn woman, had explained that her uncle was very into celebrities, but to Harry it seemed more like an obsession.

A comparison popped into his mind, but Harry shoved it away as he helped a literally staggering-drunk Charlie Weasley toward the elevator, quite pointedly ignoring the way Molly and Arthur were hanging off one another; hopefully they wouldn't be trying for an eighth child tonight.

Harry helped Fleur and Hermione make sure everyone was in bed and had sobering and hangover potions with them – the former were mostly ignored for the pleasant buzz that remained while the latter was more likely to be needed in the morning – before the non-pregnant members of the helpful-trio took sobering potions outside their own rooms and said goodnight. Harry swiped his key card in the lock and noted the slight discoloration to the light that indicated that it had been unlocked magically earlier; obviously Ginny _had_ forgotten her keycard that morning, as he had suspected.

The door opened easily, but Harry only took two steps in before he noticed what was very wrong with the room. Ginny was sprawled on the floor, hands resting on her chest, barefoot. Her head was tilted to the side, pressed against the leg of the hotel couch. Her face was bleached white, each freckle standing out starkly on her paper-pale flesh, and her hair was redder than usual, full of clotted blood.

Lips were pulled up slightly in a smile, eyes half closed, and Harry didn't even have to check to know she would be in the early-mid stages of rigor mortis. A red gash severed both the carotid artery and jugular vein, and splatters of red covered the fashionable, busy-patterned dress she had worn out in the city.

In her left hand was a vicious-looking razor caked in drying blood.

"Shit..." Harry breathed out, eyes wide. But no, Ginny wouldn't have killed herself. No, there were too many things going right in her life and not one wrong yet; she'd just been picked up by the Holyhead Harpies as a reserve Chaser, she was engaged to Harry – everything in her life was going right. She was murdered in the hotel room, and judging by the stiffened expression that should have slackened with her death, not only was the murderer someone whose presence would elicit a smile, but a certain spell had been used that would freeze her expression as such – though, usually victims of that curse looked surprised or frightened rather than pleased.

In other words, it was a magical person who had killed her, most specifically a friend. It could be any of the Weasleys or Hermione... or Harry.

He pulled his cell phone from his pocket quickly and dialed 110.

"Police," the other end replied after only two rings. Harry didn't give them a chance to continue though, and told the receptionist to patch him through to the fifth division immediately. "Yes sir. One moment please."

The young wizard bounced anxiously on his heels, waiting to be patched through, and as soon as he heard the click that indicated his call had been received he dove into his explanation. "This is the fifth division? Good. This is Potter Harry, I need an investigation team as soon as possible to investigate the murder of a young woman, age 18, foreign."

"Ah, sure thing, Potter-kun! Shiratori is still on duty for the night, so he'll pull a team together right away!" the voice was that of Aizawa Jun, one of the officers Harry worked with most often. "Hold down the fort 'til then, I suppose..."

"Thanks Aizawa-senpai," Harry breathed out before giving the address of the hotel, ending the call and, after a moment's hesitation, holding down the speed dial for a number he probably shouldn't even have. But, then, Conan hadn't noticed during the magic trick demonstration for the Detective Boys that Harry had filched his phone and taken the number off of it, so it was really the child's fault...

Okay, maybe not the most mature thought, but Harry considered Conan to be very smart and observant, so it wasn't _that_ bad.

The phone rang four times before it was picked up and a cautious "Hello?" came through the line. It was definitely Conan's voice, and Harry breathed out a sigh. Right.

"Conan-kun, are you and Mouri-san still near the hotel?" Harry realized the stupidity of the question, and wanted to hit his head on something. "What am I saying? Of course you are, it's only been five minutes and Mouri-san was being molested by the manager when I left –" Then he stopped. He was blabbering, sounding _panicked_almost. He took a breath, counted to three, exhaled, and continued in a far more calm voice.

"Ginny's been murdered," he stated evenly after a moment. Conan wouldn't appreciate being talked down to, and it was really important that Harry had the child detective's help in this. "It looks like a suicide at first sight, but I know it's a murder, and an Auror job at that. I've called the police, but this... they won't be able to tell it's an Auror thing, or figure it out, as it's close to a muggle murder style. I need you and Mouri-san to come here and lead the police to realize it's an Auror case."

That was the big issue, getting the police to realize, without his help, that it was an Auror case. Megure knew about magic, sure, but he had never studied the Killing Curse to realize that the muscles frozen beyond where they should be at this stage of rigor mortis and smoky-eyes were symptomatic of it. But, from the sound of things, Shiratori was going to be in charge of the case, and he _didn't_ know about magic. Anything Harry said, as a suspect in the case, would have to be discarded, too.

"H-hold on a second," Conan demanded in a shaky voice before his tone strengthened. "Why can't you do that yourself? You're an Auror trainee – who in the fifth division will know about Auror cases better than you?"

Harry winced and, staring at Ginny's corpse, answered succinctly, "I can't make that decision because _I'm_ one of the suspects."

"WHAT?!" Harry yanked the phone from his ear and swapped which side of his head the phone was on. "You're a suspect?! And, what, you want me to help clear your name or something?!" Conan sounded irate and shocked, with good reason.

"I said I'm a suspect, not that I killed her," Harry groused. "And I don't need you to clear my name, just to convince Shiratori – when he gets here – that it's an Auror case. Or get Mouri-san to convince them. Whatever. But I can't since I'll be the number one suspect when he figures out it's a murder."

The line suddenly went dead and Harry sighed. Right. Well, now he had to get everyone out of their rooms (hopefully he wouldn't be traumatized by doing that) and into the hall... and sober. Definitely sober. Otherwise... well, Harry honestly couldn't predict what his pseudo-family would do in such a situation while drunk. He'd only even seen any of them drunk – _really_ drunk that is – after the Battle of Hogwarts.

Oh, and he'd have to call down to the front desk and inform the hotel manager that a second murder had occurred in the hotel that day.

Yeah. This was going to be _loads_ of fun.

First, Harry went to Fleur and Bill's room. Bill came to the door, apparently having had a sobering potion since he wasn't completely pissed anymore. He was also still completely dressed, excluding one shoe. "Eh? Harry? What's up?" He perked one red eyebrow in curiosity.

"I'll tell everyone when they're out of their rooms," Harry winced visibly, causing Bill to straighten his spine a bit. "Mind helping?" Bill nodded quickly, and Harry directed him to deal with him parents and getting Fleur out while Harry dealt with George and Charlie (who had opted to share a room rather than make Harry pay for separate rooms for them) and Hermione (the only member of the group with a single room).

Since it had hardly been two minutes since everyone had entered their rooms, they were all suitably awake to drink the sobering potions (and, after some insight from Hermione, pepper-up potions to wake up). Any sign of drunkenness was erased swiftly, and it was Charlie who asked the important question.

"Hey, where's Ginny?" He inquired. Several family members echoed him, wondering as the location of the youngest Weasley.

Harry owed them the truth. "Dead. Her body was collapsed in the room when I got here," Harry sighed and massaged his forehead. "I've already called the police and Co- I mean, Mouri-san, the detective who had dinner with us."

"The police?" Harry had never been so thankful for shock, because if it wasn't so quick to set in on the Weasleys, he'd probably have them all demanding to go in his room and contaminate the crime scene. Arthur's voice was already tremulous, and the idea of him asking this while bawling or – Merlin forbid – _angry_ was not a good one. "You mean she was murdered?"

Throat tight and eyes cast aside, Harry nodded. He'd had deaths associated with him, and murders most especially. What else could Cedric and Sirius be considered? He'd seen people murdered ruthlessly and had to explain why someone had died Merlin only knew how many times... but the Weasleys were closer to him than Dumbledore or some random family. It had hurt to see Fred's body in the Great Hall, and now he was telling the Weasleys that Ginny was dead, that they'd lost another of their number.

And that there was probably about a ninety percent chance that one of them had done it. There was always the possibility that it wasn't, but not enough for Harry to consider it much.

Not sure how to handle the situation and not wanting to give anyone any idea of how much he'd already worked out – because, even though he would be a suspect, the _prime_ suspect, he was still innocent – Harry stepped aside from the group and called down to the front desk, informing them of the situation in the simplest terms and to direct the police to the proper floor when they arrived.

Just as he was slipping his cell phone back in his pocket, the elevator door just down the hall dinged, and Mouri Kogoro stepped out - more of a stagger, really - with Conan at his heels like a dog. Harry knew it was really the other way around, though it was obvious that Kogoro was completely oblivious to the truth.

"Mouri-san, Conan-kun, thank you for being prompt," Harry made himself all business... or as all business as he could manage given the circumstances. Yes, things had changed between him and Ginny in the past three months, but he hadn't wanted her dead, no matter the truth of those changes. "I'm sorry I didn't call you directly, but I only had Conan-kun's number. Follow me; I'm confident with your track record that you will be able to solve this mystery."

Actually, he had no such confidence, but he would pretend that was the case until Conan could convince Shiratori that it was an Auror case, however long that took.

The ashen-faced and teary Weasleys didn't think twice about letting Harry lead Kogoro and Conan towards the scene of the crime. They were huddled together, Molly's shaking form in the center as she hugged her children to her; Hermione was the only part of the group who wasn't involved, standing to the side awkwardly like she didn't know what to do. She'd never been that great at interpersonal relations.

Ginny's corpse was just as it had been; there was no more or less blood than before Harry had collected his family, nor had she moved a millimeter. Which was expected, really, given she was dead.

"Suicide," Kogoro stated in disinterest only ten seconds after staggering into the room. "She has the blade in her hand, there's blood everywhere – it's a suicide. Potter-kun, are you _sure_ you're old enough to be training to be an auror?" His smugly drunken look made Harry have to resist rolling his eyes.

"But Kogoro-ji-chan!" Conan protested. "Look how much blood there is! When we found the bell hop today, he had a lot more blood, and his throat was slit too, just like this nee-san. Why is that?" His eyes were round and precocious, and Harry saw straight through the act. Not that it was hard, given he'd already worked out that the real brains behind the Sleeping Kogoro was the child in question.

"Hn?" Kogoro inspected the body properly. "The blood is all spatter, not much ooze..." He took another angle and squinted his eyes.

"Blood doesn't congeal when a body is dead, right? So the body should have bled a lot before dying, but there's not much blood anywhere! It happened on a mystery show on tv, so it's true, right?" The look of fierce rightness like any stubborn child graced the boy's face, but again, Harry knew it was false.

Why did the kid bother putting on an act when he was so obviously a genius? He was in a regular first grade class with the Detective Boys, and he wasn't the only apparent genius either – the brown haired girl had been very helpful in one case because of her knowledge of chemistry, and she hadn't been taken in by Harry's magic tricks – so it wasn't like he would have any reason to hide his intellect behind a doof like Kogoro.

Which meant that there probably _was_ a reason of some sort, but Harry couldn't be arsed to try figuring out since the kid obviously wasn't doing any harm by it; the opposite, in fact.

"So, like I said, it's a murder," Harry interrupted. "She was already dead when the throat was slit. The splatter indicates she was lying down already, and the blade was obviously put in her hand post-mortem."

"Say, didn't this nee-chan leave a bit before Kogoro-ji-chan and I joined you?" Conan was obviously ignoring Harry, since the Auror trainee was just reiterating to get it through Kogoro's thick head. The child was checking the mobility of Ginny's right wrist, the one that was unencumbered by a knife. "So she can't have been dead long, but her body is completely stiff like she's been dead for at least six hours!"

"Brat, don't touch the body!" Kogoro pulled Conan away, but in a half-hearted manner. Gloves had already been put on to prevent contamination after all, and it wasn't like Kogoro could be completely ignorant to how useful Conan's observations were... maybe. "And a body can't have stiffened that easily. The temperature is just right to stiffen a little slower than usual, not faster." But he reached down and checked the wrist himself, and frowned, obviously finding Conan's statement true, but he said nothing further.

Harry sighed. Right, he would be depending on Kogoro to get the message across that it was an Auror case, and it was unlikely that the police would take "Sleeping Kogoro" as a reason to call in the Aurors. "Mouri-san, I'll be frank with why I called you here; I knew you would get here before the police and be able to convince them it's an auror case."

"Eh?" Kogoro looked away from the corpse and ignored Conan's snooping entirely. "An Auror case? Then why didn't you just call them directly? You must know how."

"Of course I do, but I'm going to be the prime suspect," Harry explained. "I have the motive, the means, I was the first person to find the body, and I can name plenty of other reasons as to the _why_ of which I would be called primary suspect. I am the only other person in possession of the key to this room, I am the person with the easiest means and greatest capability to commit the murder. But for now you should be content in the knowledge that I bore Ginny no ill will and I did _not_ kill her.

"The other main suspects would probably be Fleur and Hermione, since we were the only ones to leave the table between Ginny heading back to the room and the end of dinner. Fleur is eight months pregnant and would not be able to pull of the murder in her current state. Hermione doesn't have the right mind set for the murder method used; don't ask me what it is, because I am bound by law not to tell you even though I am a suspect. And I mean you specifically, it's not a 'I can't tell anyone' thing, it just depends on various factors that I really shouldn't explain to you if I want to keep my job. Okay? Okay. Now then, all the suspects are considered incapable of the murder, there's a grieving family in the hall, and the police should be here in the next ten minutes."

"You're a suspect, telling me I can't trust you, but I should? I'm not _that_ drunk," Kogoro's expression was completely deadpan. "This looks like a regular cover-up to me. If she was strangled with a string or something, the slash could be to cover up the evidence of how she died. That's hardly an Auror case."

Mouri Kogoro had once been on the police force and had probably memorized the check list for calling Aurors back then, assuming he had been competent even that far back. Not that Harry looked down on Kogoro, he just didn't seem half as observant as a detective ought to. Anyway, the point was that Kogoro would know the signs needed to declare an auror case, and Harry had to admit that none would be present until the body was out of the room and the Weasleys could enter.

_I should have thought this out more,_ Harry sighed mentally, but outwardly he only straightened up a bit.

"That's possible, but it's not the case, especially if you take Ginny's expression into account," he shook his head at Kogoro's logic. "No offense, Mouri-san. But... unlike last time, I know the method, just not the murderer. Theoretically, it could have been any of the people visiting or myself, in fact the chance of it being an outside party is negligible. From the police's perspective, when they get all the facts –" he mentally reminded himself that they weren't allowed to get all the facts because it was an Auror case, "– what I've already said will be considered the truth."

"You want me to convince Keibu-dono or whoever is showing up that this is a murder, and an Auror case, without knowing how or why it's that," Kogoro's expression hadn't changed, like he thought Harry was an idiot. Conan looked like he agreed with Kogoro, but Harry felt the kid was also leaning toward his side of the debate that, really, was a very illogical debate. Without knowing what Harry knew, Kogoro was right, no matter how drunk he was. And they couldn't know. "Are you stupid or something?"

"Fucking..." Harry rubbed his forehead with his knuckles, breathing slowly in and out. One... two... three... "Fine. I'll show you how this is an Auror case, what makes it different, but I swear if you tell _anyone_ I'll slap an obliviate on you so hard you won't remember your own name. Got it? Great." Knowing that there was no way Kogoro understood the terminology used, Harry stuck his hand in his jacket pocket.

It didn't take long to find what he wanted; it was small, only the size of a small gumball, and was a pleasant, minty green. Plain bold lettering showed the number ten sitting innocuously on its surface, like any other glamour-print on a candy. Yes, there were other ways to do this, but... well, he didn't want to show them _magic_ magic, didn't need them to be frightened because he had a wand. One of George's latest products would be plenty.

"Here Conan-kun, eat this. I promise it's perfectly healthy, and it tastes good," he didn't say it in a demeaning way, and sent an annoyed glance to Kogoro. "This would be so much easier if you'd just take me at my word... but I guess that's what makes a detective. When Shiratori gets here and her body goes in for autopsy, they'll conclude it anyway, but they might make an incorrect deduction before then..." he sighed and then handed the candy to Conan, who was giving him a more distrustful look than before the case with Shunpike. "Seriously, Conan-kun, it's perfectly safe. Auror-trainee's honor."

"If you say so..." Conan undid the wrapper with all the finesse that came with his six years of life, tossed the candy in his mouth, and sucked on it. The effect was immediate.

It took approximately ten seconds for Conan's limbs to elongate, body to fill out, and clothes to grow along with him. Harry's eyebrows went up at the figure before him, and there was only one person whose expression of shock could beat Conan's.

"W-wha -?" Kogoro was sputtering, looking like the world had just decided to do jumping jacks while singing_Tiptoe Through the Tulips_. And he didn't look like he thought this had anything to do with being drunk, either.

After all, it wasn't every day that you watch a child grow into the famous Kudou Shinichi, who showed up in innumerable police reports and newspaper articles in Japan... before the appearance of Edogawa Conan and not once since.

It wasn't everyday that Harry found out the precocious kid he'd been growing fond of was only a few years younger than him, either.

"Well... that's different," Harry murmured.

**Author's Note: Shinichi is revealed! :D So... Yeah. I'm quite liking this story, but as you know it will be over soon (sad, I know). After this will be a couple more chapters (I think - File 7 is the longest so far and I haven't started File 8 yet, but I will soon) and then a short epilogue. Why? ... Because I kinda liked the idea of making fun of JKR again for her epilogue, but it'll be way different. Promise. I just like poking fun, really, that's it. But it'll be semi-serious... just short.**

**I realize not everyone has the same opinion of Ginny as me. I realize that _most _****people don't, in fact, because I'm one of the nay-sayers. I decry a lot of things in canon, and I'm sorry if you don't like it, but it's the truth. Conan canon is actually pretty good, even if it does sort of crawl by. But I obsess over Harry Potter, I have ever since I read the first book; I go to openings in costume, I reread religiously, I'm a Harry Potter-tard. So I'm sorry to say that I just don't approve a lot of things. I accept precedent over antecedent (my dad thinks that a lot of conflict is "things being fixed" I say it's "she forgot"), etc etc.**

**Um... yeah. So. Story's almost over. It went by so fast! (Keep in mind that, as I originally wrote this A/n, it's only been 2 weeks since I started posting, 3 since I started writing, so it's a far shorter time period to me!) But, then, it IS a short story, not even 50k words, which seems... so short to me.**

**Oh, and you guys? Awesome. I honestly was not expecting to get over 50 reviews at ALL let alone before the story was done... and a note to all reviewers who were saying that I didn't bash Ginny: I know that. The warnings are for the case in general. Those warnings are for file 7 (though, to me it's not really too bashy, but to normal people I know it will be). You lot will have to wait a week on that.  
**

**If you've read Gakuen Alice, you'll understand the candy concept and the chapter title.**

**_Oh, and I have a new poll! Please check it out._**


	7. Case 3: Part 3

Warnings: See File 1, 'cause it just inflates the word count. Capitalizing on the Harry/Ginny warning this chapter, as well as character death, HP spoilers (particularly Book 7, though if you haven't read it, I kind of envy you), warping of canon, and... Ginny bashing.

Disclaimer: The Harry Potter franchise belongs to JK Rowling and associates, of which I am not one. The Detective Conan franchise belongs to Aoyama Gosho, Shounen Sunday, and associates, of which I am not one. I've never written mystery before, so go easy on me!

Featuring: AurorInTraining!Harry, Conan, and others from both series

File 7: All in the Facts

Conan had become somewhat accustomed to the sensation of growing into his sixteen year old body, since it had happened in the past when he would try one of Haibara's cures or the first such instance, when Hattori Heiji gave him alcohol. It was generally quite painful, and took some time. His clothes would rip or fall off (depending on the circumstances), he would feel like he was on fire, and so on and so forth. So, simply put, it was a very uncomfortable process and he wasn't terribly fond of it.

So, when in the space of ten seconds, he felt his limbs grow (it was sort of tingly, but pleasant), his eyes grew almost level with Potter's (for the Auror trainee was not a tall man), and he could feel his clothes growing with him, even his sneakers, it was well within reason that he would be completely gob smacked.

It did not occur to Conan – now Kudou Shinichi once more – that his secret had just been revealed to the man he had used as a puppet detective for months. He wasn't thinking about how _interesting_ the Auror trainee would find this. He wasn't even grateful that Ran hadn't been present to see his transformation. All of these things were rather far from his mind.

Nope, Shinichi was thinking about how stupid he must look in the old kid's clothes that he wore as Conan. To be fair, he wasn't in his usual suit jacket, but he must look like a total idiot with his high-water shorts, collared t-shirt, red bowtie, and high top sneakers.

Shinichi had always been, to an extent, rather image conscious. He _acted_ like he didn't care, but with how much he craved the spotlight and enjoyed getting into newspapers, he was careful to seem like he had a sort of casual ability to look good no matter what he wore. Like he just grabbed things out of his closet at random – which he had done as a child, until his mother taught him something of fashion – when he really had each potential combination for his clothes and what those would look like and the sort of image that would be portrayed all well-stocked in his mind. So while he did "just grab things", he had outfits plotted out in his head.

The last thing he had needed back then, after all, was for Ran to see a picture of him looking stupid and decide that he needed to go shopping. Well, maybe not the last thing, but it would still be embarrassing, and there was nothing wrong with looking put together.

Of course, this thought only took up space in his head for about five seconds. Then Kogoro's surprised squawk brought his attention to the present, and the fact that _Oh shit, Ji-cha- I mean, Ran's dad just saw me turn into me and he knows I've been living at his place-_ and Potter's quiet, curious murmur made him quite aware that this had happened while he was in front of a man whom he didn't entirely trust.

Yes, Conan had come to be okay with Potter because he understood just how impossible Aurors were, but Shinichi was another kettle of fish. The detective's continued existence was a defiance of science, nature, and the realm of plausibility, never mind possibility, and he couldn't help but fear that Potter would lock him up for study now because of that impossibility.

And he couldn't even wonder if Potter hadn't recognized who he _really_ was, even though he was still wearing his father's glasses (not much of a disguise, really), for two reasons. The first was that Potter _looked_ like he recognized Shinichi, like he'd expected the growth, but not who Conan would grow into.

"K-Kudou?! (1) _You're_ the brat?!" Kogoro was, of course, the second reason.

Understandably, Shinichi froze up. Right, so, one minute he's tasting purple, because there was no other way to describe the taste, despite the sweet being mint-colored. Well, lately mint had been reminding him of cats, and more so since he'd helped Ran find a good catnip plant to give her mother, but he couldn't figure out why he thought it tasted purple rather than green or like something sweet, because it _did_ taste sweet, it just tasted purple too.

Anyway, one minute he's tasting purple, the next he's back to being how he was, without the usual pain, and Shinichi's life crumbled to bits once again.

But he didn't get to dignify Kogoro with a response, because Potter beat him to it, and that somehow made him feel safe. "Mouri-san, please recall that you are not to reveal anything strange that happens in this room under the penalty of the law. No one would _believe_ you, mind, but the Auror division keeps its secrets secret," Potter had stepped between the puppet-detective and the mystery otaku with an air of authority that he seemed to hide a lot under a good-natured shell. "If you _do_ reveal it, you will be obliviated – that is to say, your memory will be erased and/or altered."

Shinichi knew that, while the statement wasn't being directed at him, it still applied, and he nodded seriously. Kogoro was looking a little green around the gills – which probably had a little to do with poisoning his liver with too much alcohol – and his body seemed to be on automatic as he copied the gesture.

"So... you're Kudou Shinichi? The high school detective that used to pop up in way too many police reports?" Potter looked amused, and due to continued shock, Shinichi just nodded again. "Well, nice to meet you then. Just so you know, the candy is supposed to last for about half an hour, so I'll get some more from George - no, wait, I took them from him - to tide you over until the Aurors take over this case and we can work on a permanent solution, assuming you don't intend to stay ten years younger forever..." he trailed off and eyed Shinichi for a moment. "And you can borrow some of my clothes. I'll be right back."

He turned on his heel casually, as if he was just going to go across the room to get the clothes in question – and then he disappeared. There was a small "pop" of displaced air, but other than that it was like Potter had never been in the room. Understandably, Shinichi and Kogoro were both incapable of speech (including attempts at explanation, accusation, and the like), though the younger of them did have full control over himself as displayed by his casual removal of the old spectacles. But he had thoughts to organize, and justifying himself to Kogoro was not currently his top priority. Potter reappeared not a minute later, stepping out of thin air with no effort and carrying a bundle of clothes.

"These will resize automatically to fit you, though it's not like they'd be too terribly big on you," Potter had this look that said he realized that, compared to many men his age of similar heritage, he was short, but he was fine with that. "You can change in the bathroom, and I'll make sure Mouri-san won't say anything untoward regarding your... appearance."

Again, Shinichi had no chance to say anything, though that was more because Potter had completely turned his attention away from the teen and was staring down the far-less-competent detective in a way that had apparently gripped Kogoro's attention better than any horse race.

_I can demand answers when I don't look like such an idiot,_ Shinichi reminded himself as he entered the bathroom. He could hear Potter's voice through the door, but not the words themselves. It didn't sound like he was threatening Kogoro, but it wasn't like he couldn't threaten without having an intimidating tone, either.

The shorts and t-shirt were discarded in favor of... shorts and a t-shirt. On the bright side, they weren't like the ones Conan wore. The shorts were Hawaiian print, the cheesy things one bought on vacation and only wore because it was too hot for anything else, and the t-shirt actually matched it pretty well. Shinichi even looked tanner than usual, though he had nothing on Heiji; it honestly looked like he had just been on vacation or something. The black sandals and a pair of sunglasses helped complete the image.

Curious as to why Potter would have picked such clothes up seemingly at random, and what was meant by "resizing", Shinichi exited the bathroom, leaving his oversized Conan-clothes - not including his bow tie, that went into one of the over-sized pockets in his shorts - in a large bag that had been hiding under the sink. He was just in time to hear the tail end of Kogoro's slurred grumbling about "that detective kid."

How... normal.

"Ah, Kudou-kun, you're right on time," Potter was smiling at him in a strangely familiar manner, like they were old friends or something. It was a little creepy, though not as creepy as the hotel manager. "As far as the police are to know, you've been helping with some Auror cases in Hawaii – no details that I don't provide – and your involvement is to stay a secret since it's a very dangerous case. We met when I was having my course on navigation in Maui. And here's some more of those sweets." He tossed a bag of green gumball-looking candies at the detective, who caught them deftly. "You'll need to eat one in about twenty-five minutes."

Shinichi was unsure of what his reaction should be. The trainee had just made him a cover story that no one, not even Ran, was going to question, and was providing him with a temporary means to retain his normal body. He wasn't asking questions, or accusing him of anything, Potter was simply going with the flow; it made sense, given Potter was the one that gave him the age-changing sweet to begin with, but Shinichi wasn't too keen on any of this.

After all, people rarely did the right thing because it was the right thing. Shinichi had only started that after becoming Conan; it had been about self-fulfillment and making a name for himself back when he was still a regular high school detective. Now he owed Potter, and that debt might be called in by giving false evidence that someone else had killed the woman who was still lying dead on the floor.

So Shinichi just uttered a small, "Thanks," and dropped the bag in his pocket before setting the alarm on his watch. Maybe it was easier this way, since he didn't have a dart to do another Sleeping Kogoro Show tonight, but that didn't mean that he was terribly keen on the idea.

"Don't worry so much," Potter shrugged. "As I said, this is an Auror case. With the clues present, you could never narrow down who did the deed. But, since I brought you into the know, I will give you the facts of the case as I see them.

"Ginny left dinner at the same time you two arrived, around eight pm, because she was feeling ill," he ticked off one finger. "Sometime within a half hour of that time, she was murdered in the hotel room, by a friend judging by her expression. As previously observed, she's too far into rigor mortis for this to be the case – but it is the fact of the matter. The murder technique is known as 'Avada Kadavra', which kills upon contact and accelerates decomposition by a factor of two. In an autopsy, her death would be prescribed as 'no cause.' Like she just up and died for no reason."

Shinichi's eyes widened. No cause? That sounded _far_ too much like the Aptxn for comfort. Did that mean that the Black Organization was under Auror jurisdiction and... what? Winning? Beating the Aurors? Sure, it was possible, but somehow it didn't seem likely. Shinichi knew more about how the Organization worked than the Auror department, but he had a feeling that the Aurors simply didn't know about that particular threat.

"This 'Avada Kadavra' thing," he began slowly, almost unsure as to how to get his information now that he was no longer six and precocious, "is it a poison or something?"

"A poison? No, poisons that Aurors deal with are painful and usually need to be cured very quickly or else there will be rather creative results," Potter wrinkled his nose, as if remembering learning about one such poison. "Avada Kadavra... well, remember that stick that Shunpike had back in June? Those things... think of it as a taser sort of thing, but they have various settings. It could tickle you, make you dance a jig, condense the atoms under something to make it float, or kill you. Avada Kadavra is the latter. No mess, no pain, just instant death."

It was a shoddy explanation, and Shinichi knew that Potter wanted to give a better one, but he said nothing. The idea that a "taser stick" could kill and make things float was already a little hard to swallow, and the full truth would probably keep his mind running too busily to be of use during the case.

"Beyond that, the murderer must have, at some point, come back and slit Ginny's throat," Potter continued. "The method of travel was probably the one I demonstrated earlier, so this could have been done over the course of less than a minute. The... stick-thing isn't that hard to get a hold of, and is in fact considered a regular accessory in some circles, as common in some schools as a pencil; they aren't illegal to own, and every member of my group is in possession of one, for example. The Avada Kadavra can't be properly used by many people though (2). If someone who can't use it tries to, the worst that'll happen is the victim might get knocked out.

"Anyway, those are the basic facts," Harry shrugged. "Aside from that, only two keys were issued to this room, one of which is in my pocket, the other is on the side table. The lock shows signs of tampering by a... stick-thing," he didn't seem to like calling it a stick, "though you wouldn't notice it, trust me. That technique can be done by any eleven year old if they've been in secondary school a couple of months, or if they study independently much. Just because only Fleur, Hermione, and I left the table doesn't mean only one of us could have committed the murder, either, because it's... well, I can't really explain that without actually having to obliviate you, or having to pay one _hell_ of a fine, so I won't bother."

Shinichi furrowed his brow and thought back to the second time he met Potter. "So, when you said it was magic... you were being serious," he sighed and shook his head. He would needle out a full explanation later, but for now there was a case and learning about a "real" magic could certainly wait. Yes, it was important to the case, but assuming he could convince Shiratori that this was an Auror case, he doubted that the most vaunted of all police departments would be incapable of deducing the perpetrator through their own "magical" methods. "Well, I'll believe that it's an Auror case, but when the Aurors take over I want to be here."

"Fine by me," Potter nodded, but after that his tone changed. It became... darker. "Kudou-san, I wasn't kidding when I said we'll find a permanent solution if you want. Those candies are convenient since _you_ can't build an immunity," his intonation implied it was Shinichi in particular who couldn't build an immunity and that other people could, "but if you want to be yourself again I'm sure you'd like more than thirty minutes at a time."

"I... we'll talk about that later; we need to find out who killed your fiancé before anything else," Shinichi shook his head, resisting the temptation. What if Potter's offer for aid disappeared afterwards, if Potter was the murderer? Having a potential cure snatched out of his grasp like that would be too cruel, like in that shoujo martial-arts manga Ran liked with the boy who turned into a girl. (3) "And her family is outside still, y'know."

"Yeah," Potter's gaze drifted to the corpse that was still lying on the floor, looking sad but not quite like a man whose fiancé had just been murdered. "Well, I figured they could do with some time without... me for a bit. I guess the police will be here soon though..." he trailed off and tore his eyes from the corpse. "Shall we?"

Shinichi headed toward the door after Potter and stopped when he realized Kogoro wasn't following. Potter stopped as well and probably caught where Shinichi was gazing, though the detective couldn't really know since his back was to the Auror trainee.

"Don't worry, he's fine, just a bit Befuddled," he said 'befuddled' in English, like it was an important word. "He remembers everything, he just... can't freak out until he's in a more controlled environment is all."

"Another Auror thing?" Shinichi tore his gaze from the shoddy detective to catch Potter nodding. Kogoro seemed to shake himself, and though he still looked a little distant, he was also a bit more aware. Or it looked like it.

"Jus'... woozy," Kogoro staggered slightly before passing out on the floor; Shinichi and Potter barely managed to catch him before his head would have made contact with the ground.

"Er... okay, maybe befuddlement on top of being mostly drunk isn't a good combination..." Potter shifted a bit and, with Shinichi's help, dragged the man over to a corner where he was set up with a pillow and blanket. "Well, I suppose we do still have a Sleeping Kogoro."

Shinichi scoffed at the attempt at humor and soon enough they were back out in the hall. The Weasleys had changed position in the past ten minutes, though the matriarch was still mostly surrounded by her children, her face streaked with tears. The two older boys were closed off from the rest of the group even as they comforted their mother, and Hermione was standing just behind the Weasley patriarch, looking awkward, like she didn't know how to help. It was the one-eared son who was trying hardest to comfort his mother.

"Harry? Where did Mouri-san and Conan-kun go?" Hermione's eyes were watery, but her voice was strong, bearing only the slightest of wavers. It seemed curious to Shinichi that the woman would notice so quickly, but everyone had kept ribbing her at dinner for being a "genius", so maybe it shouldn't be too surprising.

"Mouri-san was stone drunk and collapsed before I could give him a sobering potion," Potter cast a quick glance to Shinichi, and the detective immediately caught the message. _Now is the time to set up your alibi. You have to do it on your own_.

Which, for an attention seeker and spotlight nut like Shinichi was no trouble, no matter how much he'd tried to avoid those same tendencies as Conan. "Hello, you must be Granger-san? I'm Kudou Shinichi – I'm a muggle detective," he was pretty sure he'd used the word muggle properly, and Granger seemed to relax at his use of the word while giving him a curious look at the same time. Muggles probably didn't use the word muggle very often. "For the past couple of months I've been working with the Aurors on some cases around the Pacific, mostly in Hawaii; hopefully I'll be of some aid here."

"I called in to get him a portkey here when I realized Mouri-san was too drunk to help," Potter continued. "Lucky it was still the middle of the night. Kudou-kun is in the middle of an important case; someone's been selling some humuhumunukunukuapua'a-based potions in place of kelpie-base, and it's been resulting in a lot of deaths. No trace so far."

"But that's not important," Shinichi sent Potter a look, the kind of look he knew ought to be sent when someone was revealing too much about a case. Of course, all of his cases ended pretty quickly, so that rarely mattered, but it was important in this case. Potter said no details, therefore there would be no details, especially since Shinichi didn't understand a good portion of what Potter was saying.

What the hell was a "humukunukapaa" anyway? "Kappa" was in there, sort of, but those weren't real, so…

"But where did that kid go? Conan-kun? You didn't leave him in there with a dead body, did you?" Hermione was suddenly standing on a soap box so to speak and glared at both of the young men before her; suddenly, Shinichi felt like he was Conan again, even though he was the same height as the bronze-skinned woman before him. "Harry, you know how easy it is to mess up a child, and I've been very tolerant in letters when you mentioned meeting him at a lot of crime scenes, but leaving him in there with Ginny's body is just –" she snapped her mouth shut and continued fuming silently, eyes burning fiercely.

"I brought Conan-kun home. it's late, and kids need to sleep; he was half dead on his feet as it was, so he didn't notice the apparation," Potter defended as soon as it was plain that Hermione was giving them opportunity to do so. "I mean, he's useful in cases, but I'm not about to turn into Dumbledore or anything."

"HARRY JAMES POTTER! You will not badmouth a dead man, do you understand me?!" The previous soapbox had been replaced with one that seemed even greater, and Shinichi wondered at the sensation of feeling three rather than six or sixteen. He hadn't said anything, but he still felt like he was on the bad side of Hermione's temper. "You… Ginny's dead in there and you're being sore about the fact that Dumbledore didn't pick you over the millions of witches and wizards in the world? Seriously?"

The tears were now actually flowing down her face. Shinichi felt awkward, knowing this was probably an old argument and one he couldn't ever understand.

"You're right, Dumbledore has no bearing on this case," Potter was apologetic, but didn't seem to have backed down from his stance either. "But to explain potential motives to Shiratori-senpai when he arrives, we'll be spilling all of Ginny's dirty laundry."

The elevator dinged, and Shinichi realized the truth of the phrase "saved by the bell." Hermione had looked ready to explode at Harry, but she also looked ill and several other things that Shinichi categorized as hurt, annoyed, worried, and saddened. Shiratori's entrance to the hallway – a carbon copy of the one two floors down where he had, only a few hours ago, arrived in time to take another murderer away.

The young detective, suddenly nervous, pulled one of the mint-colored candies from his shorts pocket and cradled it between two fingers even though there was at least another ten minutes before he had to eat one; the one-eared Weasley, George, gave him a look of surprise and comprehension.

"Potter, what's the situati-" Shiratori stopped as his eyes landed on Shinichi; it occurred to the teen that he wasn't sure if he had ever met Shiratori as himself. All his Tokyo cases before becoming Conan had been with Megure, and he'd only transformed back a couple of times since then, so he couldn't sure. "Kudou? Kudou Shinichi?

"Yes sir," Shinichi nodded, smiling politely at the officer. "Shiratori Sango-keiji, correct?" He knew it was, but he wasn't sure he was supposed to and even if he was it must have been a while back that he had met Shiratori as himself, or only once, so there was no reason why he couldn't falsely-inquire as to the identity of the inspector. "From what I've seen so far, I think it's an auror case, and Potter-san agreed, but he said it was your call to make." He shrugged for effect. His time as Conan had vastly improved his acting skills.

"Wait, you mean this man isn't an auror?" Hermione spoke up again, her eyes narrowed. "Harry, what's going on? You just called everyone out of their rooms and told us Ginny was dead, and-" She was stopped by Fleur, who said something in French before being pulled back from where she'd been ready to lecture Harry all over again.

"My call?" Shiratori blinked, doing his level best to ignore Hermione, and turned his attention back to Potter confusedly. "You're an Auror trainee. Surely you'd get through to the ninth division easily." He sounded unsure though, despite his declaration.

"Under normal circumstances, but as the deceased was my fiancé and I have appropriate motive to be considered a suspect, the case is completely out of my jurisdiction," Potter's voice was a lot calmer as he explained the situation to Shiratori than when he had explained it to Conan over the phone. He was probably a lot more assured that things would be taken care of properly by now.

The poofy-haired policeman looked completely gob smacked for a moment before he schooled his features. "Well, as you're a suspect–"

"Harry is not a suspect! Why would he kill Ginny?" Hermione, again. Fleur clamped a hand over Hermione's mouth this time and ripped her hand away just as quickly; Shinichi suspected that she had been licked.

Shiratori stared openly this time before Shinichi drew his attention back to the matter at hand. This was definitely an Auror case, no matter who had done it, so it was in Shinichi's best interests to get things moving quickly. "Right. Potter-kun, you claim that you have the proper motive to commit this murder. Would you mind saying what, precisely, that is?"

"Certainly," Potter nodded amicably. "As you know, I was engaged to the deceased; we started dating when I was sixteen and she was fifteen, but it was only for a couple of months at first; we broke up due to certain political risings back home that made it unsafe for us to be together. About a year about breaking up, things had settled again and we were back together. After a cumulative three months of dating, we got engaged. Most of the year after that, she was at boarding school and I was in the Auror Training Program; during that time, when I wasn't too exhausted to think, I'd wonder if getting engaged was the right thing to do. Then I'd see her over a school break and I'd forget those worries until about a week after she had gone back to school. I didn't have a single worry about our relationship between her graduation and when I was sent here for my apprenticeship.

"The reason for this is fairly straightforward; when we were together, Ginny was drugging me with a specialized drug so that I would _think_ I was in love with her." There were gasps and murmurs and the Weasley matron stared in horror before bursting into tears again; Potter looked guilty at the admission, as though the entire thing was his fault, but continued on, alternately looking Shinichi and Shiratori in the eyes to say that, so far as he knew, this was the truth. "I don't actually care too much about that, mind you; even though I was drugged, I had a good time and we had a good relationship, all things considered. Ginny was a fun person. A bit wacko, but who isn't?

"Obviously, you aren't going to acquit me just because of that, and that's not the only motive I could have had, anyway. Since she went back to school, Ginny was cheating on me with one of my old roommates from high school, sort of. Nice bloke, but he's a sucker for a girl in distress, thought I was neglecting her. Ginny and I had talked about that though, and the fact that she was into polyamory (4) really didn't faze me then, nor does it now. Maybe because I got used to the idea, I can't be sure. Aside from those two points, any other motives I might have are too trivial to note."

Shinichi, for his part, was very much surprised. Ginny was drugging the auror trainee – probably with some sort of "magical love potion" or something – _and_ cheating on him. And Potter didn't care. He was pretty openly affectionate with all the Weasleys and had never had any tone that implied negativity when Ginny had come up in conversation at the table earlier in the evening.

"Zere eez one more zat 'Arry did not say," Fleur spoke up in English. Shinichi wasn't sure if Shiratori spoke it or not, though it was very common, but there didn't seem to be any issue. "Though, I am not sure 'e was aware of eet. Ginny was pregnant."

**Author's Note: Wow. I really didn't cover as much ground with this as I meant to, but I had fun with the differences in writing Conan's PoV and Shinichi's (because they really ARE different; Conan has adapted to being a child and Shinichi is always still himself despite that, just with a bit of realization that he has to tell Megure to keep his involvement secret all the time). And it's the longest chapter yet despite not having everything I wanted in it.**

**Wow, I think this is the latest I've finished a chapter for this story... only one week ahead of time. Where'd my buffer go? Anyway, I think next chapter should be the last one, aside from the epilogue. We'll see. (I have hardly started File 8, so I can't say whether or not I can wrap things up by next Monday...) Also, sorry I didn't post this morning, but I had school stuff to do in my before-class computer time.**

(1) I'm sorry, I can't remember how Kogoro addresses Shinichi! I know how he _refers_ to Shinichi, but not face to face. And I can't remember what chapters include interaction between them so I can't look it up... (in the ones I've managed to find, Kogoro doesn't actually address him with any name or anything, just referring to him as "that detective kid" and such)

(2) In Book 4, fake!Moody told Harry's class that, even if they all performed the Killing Curse on him at once, he was unlikely to get so much as a bloody nose because they lack the power and intent (I'm paraphrasing here). I figure it's actually the truth or Hermione would have called him on it. I was surprised when the first fanfic I've come across to actually make note of this was The Innocence of Guilt by ENSIGN, since you'd think it would be a popular loophole...

(3) Reference to the manga/anime series Ranma 1/2 which belongs to Takahashi Rumiko, not me.

(4) Polyamory (having many lovers) really isn't all that uncommon... or so it seems to _me_ since my dad is polyamorous. Basically, a polyamorous person is someone who is capable of loving multiple people romantically at the same level. Bash all you want, but to me this sort of thing is just a fact of life. The fact that Harry and Ginny were going to be married doesn't change much except that she would legally be his wife and any children she had would legally be his children and thus well provided for, loved, etc. But yeah, that was my Ginny bashing, since I realize that Ginny cheating on and drugging Harry are common bashing elements.


	8. Case 3: FINALE

Warnings: See File 1, 'cause it just inflates the word count. Capitalizing on the Harry/Ginny warning this chapter, as well as character death, HP spoilers (particularly Book 7, though if you haven't read it, I kind of envy you), warping of canon, and... Ginny bashing. Omake at the end.

Disclaimer: The Harry Potter franchise belongs to JK Rowling and associates, of which I am not one. The Detective Conan franchise belongs to Aoyama Gosho, Shounen Sunday, and associates, of which I am not one. I've never written mystery before, so go easy on me!

Featuring: AurorInTraining!Harry, Conan, and others from both series

File 8: Culmination

"Pregnant?" Harry murmured, staring pensively at the ground. Well, she wasn't showing any visible signs of bloating, so it was obviously early the pregnancy; considering he'd been away three months and had barely had time to spare with Ginny for the two months before that, he knew that the child wasn't his. Probably Seamus', or the young pureblood Ginny had recently taken up with – Harry had never actually met the man, nor seen a photograph, so he could not recall a name – but that, to him, was not what mattered.

Ginny was dead, and the person who killed her had killed Ginny's child as well. The child that Harry would have raised with her, his child or not, had been killed just the same as Ginny. Sure, the fetus would only be a few months old, but a life was a life. There was always the chance that that child would not get through term, but now Ginny and the baby were _dead_.

Odds were defeated by death, inevitably.

Harry ignored Mrs Weasley's wailing sobs – she'd lost two children now, and a grandchild – the shouting of the arguing brothers – Charlie vowing to set a dragon upon the murderer of his niece to be, Bill saying that some of the crueler ancient Egyptian curses would be more appropriate - and looked to Shinichi, who seemed to be processing everything being said with the objective view that Harry so sorely lacked in this instance. Well, Harry had never been good at objective; bias creeped easily into him, and emotions were going to rip him to shreds, or so it felt.

Not that he wasn't calm. But it was shock, not apathy that spawned this. Harry attributed his ability to _not_ freak out to the fact that he was filled with enough emotions to kill three empaths and a seer just by being in the same room as them, and therefore how could his own body react to the maelstrom of sheer _feeling_ that was wreaking havoc in his frame?

Or he could really have been apathetic, but he was quite well assured of his own caring nature and was certain that that was not the case.

"I-I'll... whoever did this I'll..." Harry fixed his gaze to Mrs Weasley, who seemed suddenly a ferocious mother bear, like she had when she killed Bellatrix. It was fitting, supposed the young auror trainee, but then, she had always been every inch a mother, and every inch of her seemed now fixed on vengeance.

_I almost feel sorry for the murderer_, Harry thought to himself, but he agreed with Mrs Weasley wholeheartedly. She hadn't said what she would do, but the murderer deserved that and more.

Hermione started to argue with the woman over humane treatment and whatnot – which was rather stupid, since in Japanese prisoners weren't treated too humanely anyway (1) – and Harry took a deep breath, wishing not for the first time that he had any skill in occlumancy.

Yes, he was angry. Yes, he was sad. Yes, he was a dozen other things. But what he needed to be was in control. One of the members of his family had killed his fiancé – never mind that he had been intending to break off the engagement now he knew he wasn't really in love with her, it was the idea behind the matter – and he just...

"Potter-san," Shinichi caught Harry's attention again quickly, and Harry fought to reign himself in. "We need to focus on the case and get the aurors here." The young detective was completely serious; maybe he was always that way, Harry didn't know. It was already pretty obvious that Conan and Shinichi were very different and very similar. After all, Conan would mask everything he did in some way, and Shinichi was being very plain with Harry. Conan probably would have given some overly dramatic reaction to magic, just to seem unsuspicious, while Shinichi was waiting to question it in the face of a case.

"Right," the Auror trainee sighed and attempted to focus. "But that's _your_ job." And lucky that.

Harry probably couldn't convince anyone of anything at this point.

After all, he was too conflicted on anything to really pull it off, wasn't he? He didn't hate Ginny, but he had ever reason to. He'd been planning to break off the engagement, but knowing she was pregnant with another man's child (almost definitely), he would have been willing to actually give her a chance. He was bound by honor and duty to leave the case to the proper authorities, even though he wanted to tear the culprit limb from limb.

Then, the murderer stepped forward.

* * *

_'It started after the war,' explained the murderer, eyes darting back and forth. The fact that this was the murderer was not yet known, but the strangeness drew everyone's attention, silencing even the loudest of the watchers. 'Well, I figured it out before the war, but all of... this,' a hand was waved in the air aimlessly, unable to articulate what the brain could not, 'didn't start until after._

_'I noticed immediately, what she was doing to Harry. He wasn't thinking about her, and then suddenly he was. I saw the changes in his personality from when he and Ginny were separated for long periods of time, the withdrawal symptoms of the... drug that Ginny was using on him. Ginny was nervous when they were apart for more than two days, but as soon as they ate so much as one meal together, she would be entirely herself again. I think others might have noticed that, but they didn't say anything._

_'I... I didn't know she was pregnant, you have to understand. I didn't even know that Harry was aware of all the deceit involved in their relationship. Please believe me about that. I just knew that she was sleeping with men other than Harry and drugging him into loving her, maybe one of those others too, not that she isn't... wasn't attractive enough to get them on her own. But I didn't know she was pregnant. I wouldn't have killed her if I had known._

_'I just wanted you to know that before...' Stop. Breathe. Begin._

_'Visiting Japan was the straw that broke the camel's back again, because I saw so many times how Ginny tried to drug Harry at lunch and when she bought them drinks. I guess I should have been suspicious when I realized Harry hadn't actually had anything to drink that she had touched, and at dinner, when we got drinks, he kept switching out drinks; I figured it was because prank sweets were being put in his drink, but..._

_'Anyway, just seeing her doing this to Harry all over again, it was too much. I couldn't let her do that to him anymore. I didn't... I didn't _think_. That much be so strange to hear coming from me, but I honestly didn't think about it. I saw my chance to get rid of Ginny, to save Harry, and I took it. I mean... Merlin! If anyone deserves to be free to love who they want it's Harry! You understand, don't you?'_ _Brown eyes sought solace in the eyes of the assembled, but found only shock and scorn; no one understood, and they could barely believe it to begin with. The murderer deflated some and, hugging slim arms closely, continued._

_'I did it during dinner. I apparated up to my room; no one would notice any residue since I've got a single after all, it was no big deal. I remembered what Harry said about it being okay to... to jimmy the locks in the way we were taught in school, since it wouldn't damage them, that he knew how difficult it was to keep track of the keys. I actually had Ginny's key, because she left it at the restaurant we went to lunch for, and I was glad for it, since tampering twice in a row would be too obvious. I just slid the card through and entered the room._

_'She was just standing there, in the middle of the room. She looked stuck between deciding to sleep or throw up; the latter was probably morning sickness of a sort, since she was pregnant.' A wince at that word, but the murderer continued. 'She turned around when I entered the room and smiled at me, opening her arms for a hug. I killed her then, with her arms outreached to say hello. She never even saw me do it, she just... died._

_'I was halfway surprised it worked, really. I was so surprised that she was _dead_. I've seen dead people before, we all have. But it was those happy eyes fading and that smile _staying_ that really got me, I think. I cleaned my fingerprints off everything in the room and left, went back to dinner where I was hardly missed what with Mouri-san and Conan-kun keeping everyone entertained. I calmed down after about ten minutes; no one saw that I was worried to begin with. I had a new plan, a way to hide what I'd done, to make it seem like an outside party did it._

_'I went back, about half an hour, maybe a full hour, after I killed her initially. I had to be very quick with this step, but I had the exact plan in mind. I... found a knife,' brown eyes darted to Shiratori and his minion-officer of the evening, knowing they were muggles and certain words could not be used. 'Then I slit her throat and stuck the knife in her own hand. I never realized how quickly rigor mortis sets in, nor how quickly blood can congeal. It was difficult, but I set up the scene._

_'I never believed it would be taken for suicide, even when I was thinking it up. I knew Harry would know it was a murder; why would Ginny suicide after all? She's got him, and she's a professional athlete, so it was a murder. But I didn't think he would think it was one of us, either._

_'I did this all for him. That's why I'm confessing. I wasn't going to, but with you accusing him, and... and knowing that I killed a _baby_ too... I'm no better than V-Voldemort. I killed Ginny for Harry's betterment, so that he wouldn't have to be with that... that skank." A snarl, grit teeth, and then a deep breath. Honey-brown eyes squeezed tight, and several tears started sliding down tanned cheeks. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."_

_The murderer whimpered pitifully and slid to the floor, crying the tears that had not come when the Weasleys were told of Ginny's death._

_Hermione regretted killing Ginny, so very much._

* * *

Shinichi... wasn't sure what to make of the case. One minute he was about to bombard Shiratori with the reasons as to why Aurors ought to be brought in, then suddenly Hermione, Potter's childhood friend, steps forward and admits to killing Ginny.

It wasn't the first time such a thing had happened, but it was the first time that Shinichi didn't want to turn the murderer over to the police. Not the regular police anyway. Potter had said that they all had a "stick thing" (by this point, Shinichi presumed he meant a magic wand), and Hermione had proven herself able to kill using it, and it was apparently also used to magically unlock doors. Surely it could undo simple handcuffs? Even "muggle" magicians like Kaitou Kid could do that easily enough.

The young detective tore his gaze away from Hermione as his watch started beeping; it had only been half an hour since he had taken the first candy. He popped the one he'd been fiddling with into his mouth before the previous sweet could wear off. It was a bit surprising he could hear his watch beep, since there was screaming and crying surrounding him, but he supposed he just had keen ears.

Turning to address Potter, mostly on the matter of how the hell he was supposed to get Kogoro home without Ran figuring out that he was "back", but stopped. Potter was not where he had been, but rather in front of Hermione, who was still collapsed on the floor, crying.

"Hermione," she looked like she had been slapped as Harry uttered her name. "Hermione, look at me." She did, though Shinichi could see how much the action hurt her. "What am I supposed to tell Ron?"

Ron, Shinichi recalled, was the name of Potter's best friend and Hermione's boyfriend. He was Ginny's older brother, the youngest living child of the family mourning not five feet from Shinichi, and an Auror trainee in Brazil. Though the pronunciation was the same, he didn't even think of Ran at that instant, though later he would and wonder at the complete lack of confusion.

"That he's better off not marrying someone as dumb as I am," she replied flatly. Harry's expression softened and he nodded.

Shiratori interrupted the moment. "Potter-kun, you said this was an Auror case? Should we turn her over to them for processing?"

"Yes, by law she is to be trialed by the British Ministry under the Auror Court," Potter's voice cracked slightly. It made sense; he'd lost his fiancé and one of his best friends in one evening, on his _birthday_. "The method she used for murder means she'll be spending the rest of her natural life in the highest security prison available as soon as she has been found guilty by the court. Her confession might gain her a nicer cell, but... nothing else."

Hermione shook her head and had one of the police officers help her to her feet. "No, I won't be sent there, not for six months at least. Not until the baby is born." Harry's eyes widened, but Hermione just smiled at him and gestured to the police officers that she was ready to be taken away.

The murderer left with the entire police entourage; they would be back to take away Ginny's body and deal with the mess soon, most likely. Shinichi found a hand was reached out to him, hand up. "Well, Shinichi-kun? Are you ready?"

There was no question. Shinichi grasped the hand offered him with utmost trust, and felt himself whisked away from the hotel through a rubber tube.

Life was waiting.

**Author's Note: It's over! Done. Finito. There remains only the epilogue, the length of which I dunno yet, but you'll know when I post it... might not be up 'til November though 'cause I have other things to write (Halloween stuff and birthday presents for friends mostly). Not really sure how well I've managed to wrap it up – I'm never really confident in my endings since I have the least experience in those (of course). Hope I didn't disappoint you lot **_**too**_** badly.**

**X3 You guys totally rock though. I'm not a review-beggar, so getting reviews always makes me happy. And y'know what? There are lots of them. Given the rate, I'd say this story is actually going to hit 100 reviews. So I'm really freaking impressed with you guys and feel quite loved without being big-headed like I got with... certain other stories.**

(1) From what I know (and I'm fairly certain it's accurate, but PLEASE correct me if I'm wrong), prisoners in Japan don't get fed unless someone on the outside (usually family) sponsors them to have food (or something like that...)

_Omake #1  
Takes place five minutes after the end of File 8_

Shinichi smacked his face with his palm. "I knew I forgot something!"

Potter's green gaze landed upon him, confused. "What do you mean 'forgot something'? It's been five minutes, we haven't even drawn your blood yet."

"No! It's nothing to do with that," the teenager dismissed. "We left Kogoro at the hotel!"

Potter blinked. "Oh. Um... oops?"

_Omake #2  
Takes place two days after the end of File 8_

Haibara Ai was most displeased. She sat imperiously in a spinny office chair inside of her lab in Professor Agasa Hiroshi's basement, looking down her nose at the little boy who had just wandered in. Her eyes were narrowed, and her bleach-brown hair was held out of her face by hair clubs with Kamen Yaiba on them that had been given to her for her birthday by a girl in her class named Ayumi. With her short limbs and strangely elegant style of dress, any other six year old would look completely ludicrous in such a position and with such an expression.

Ai, however, was different, because she was really eighteen and knew exactly how to make herself look how she wanted to look. She wanted to look intimidating, and so she did.

However, Edogawa Conan, the little boy who had just wandered into Ai's lab after two days of absence – two days! – was not intimidated. Well, that was fine; she would get back at him for that later, when he least expected it.

"Well?" She transformed her expression from a scowl to a mere look of annoyance. "What do you want?"

Conan grinned impishly at her. "To assure you that I'm alive, that the Black Organization didn't get me – you know, the usual."

"Hn," Ai scoffed and swung a leg to make her chair spin elegantly about so she could ignore him. She had been worried about him. Two days incommunicado, missing school and with Mouri Ran not even having a good excuse – she said her _father_ told her that Conan was in good hands, as if she actually believed something the drunken puppet-detective said! – it was enough to make anyone worry.

And then Conan just waltzes in with a shit-eating grin on his face. It was infuriating.

"Come on Haibara-san, I have better news," Ai's attention was piqued, but she made no indication that she was paying him even cursory attention anymore as she tapped away at her computer. "The International Auror Department is now aware of the Black Organization; they've already got a lead on Gin and Vodka."

In no time, Ai's chair had spun around again and she stared wide-eyed at Conan. How-?

"I didn't mention you, so don't worry," Conan was still grinning. "Here, I got some interesting candies to celebrate." He held a leather pouch in his hands – no, upon closer inspection it wasn't leather, it looked more like alligator skin, except that it also looked like regular cow leather, only thicker – that, when opened, revealed a multitude of round candies that looked like gumballs. They were all mint green and reflected the lights back with a dull sheen.

Ai didn't really think about the fact that she was being offered a candy and she didn't particularly like low-class sweets (high class chocolates _only_ thank you very much), just that the Black Organization was being chased by Aurors now. She felt... safer.

"What flavor?" She asked, examining the candy. It had the texture of a jaw breaker, the appearance of a small gumball, and yet she could tell the density was more like that of dango. How curious.

"Purple," Conan rolled his eyes at her and ushered her on. With a minute glare – there was no heart in it because Conan might have just made a huge leap to stopping the Black Organization – she popped the candy in her mouth.

As she found herself growing, Ai's first thought was that Conan was correct; the candy tasted purple.

The second was regarding how curious she was at finding it didn't hurt to grow this much. She remembered drinking that Chinese wine – she could no longer recall what sort it was – and how much it had hurt to go from being six to eighteen that time, but this time it didn't hurt at all.

Third, was that she still didn't feel quite right. She glanced down and huffed. Though there was little difference between her sixteen and eighteen year old forms, she _could_ tell the difference. Her waist was a bit slimmer, her feet slightly smaller, and her general shape less was defined than the one she had been accustomed to prior to shrinking.

The fourth thought was that, looking Kudou Shinichi dead in the eye as herself, he looked far too smug.

"The other good news is that I have a temporary cure," he grinned brilliantly, "and the permanent cure will be available in a week."

Ai felt a migraine coming on.

**Author's Note: Couldn't help it. Plus, y'know, the chapter was so short that it needed some buffer... and the lack of Ai was getting to me. I _like_ her, y'know? She's awesome :D**


End file.
